European Cultural Centre

"Isn't 'performance art' synonymous with 'challenge'"? In an interview with @colettemedia for @glasstire our director and founder Anja Foerschner reflects on 6 years of running ECC Performance Art - roadblocks, difficulties and moments of 'reality meets idealism' included. Read the full interview on the Glasstire website (link in bio)! #performanceart #eccperformanceart

One week left to enroll for our upcoming online workshop "The Unruly Body: (De-)constructing and Performing Gender"! This workshop investigates into the relation between performance and gender. Drawing from Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity and Jack Halberstam’s proposal of ‘queer failure’, it invites participants to explore performance art’s possibilities of articulating gender and understand it as a potential moment of subverting and resisting gender normativity. DATES: May 25-June 15, 2026; Mondays 6-8PM CET To learn more and enroll visit link in bio! #performanceart #performanceartworkshop #performinggender #theunrulybody #eccperformanceart Image: @steef_kersbergen "Notes from inside the cocoon: Becoming my nonbinary Body", 2023

We are pleased to announce the beginning of the DigiLiveAiR project, commissioning 4 Digital Artist-in-Residences with 12 new artists during 2026! A project by @performanceartvideo , created in collaboration with 5 European non-profit partners and their curators: EntrAxis | Verena Stenke @vestandpage NURT | Ostap Manulyak @soundsfrombehindtheabsentwalls @ecc_performanceart | Anja Foerschner @untitled.tbilisi | @sabrina_bellenzier & @giorgi.rodionov Studio Contemporaneo Co-funded by the European Union, the digital side of the project is commissioning artists to develop new performance-for-camera art works - 12 new art works in total, 3 for each association - selected through open calls focused on specific themes: social inclusion, gender equality, climate change, and the promotion of justice and peace. During the residencies, artists will collaborate with curators to create new performance-based works, premiering at @veniceperformanceartweek in Venice (Italy) in December 2026, and later featured on PAV. Stay tuned to discover more about the project, curators and artists!

4 more days to register! A few spots left I am so excited to be teaching this performance art class at ECC Performance Art—Rules of the Game: An Introduction to task-based Performance Art. We will look at artists like Sophie Calle and others who use prescribed instructions as a strategy to challenge norms and generate creativity. Course meets for (4) Mondays from 11-1pm central time starting April 27. More info: https://ecc-performanceart.eu/rulesofthegame #performanceart #performancearteducation #performanceartworkshop #taskedbasedperformance #onlinecourse

Is gender a script we are born with, or a rehearsal we never finish? Do you follow the rules, or break and rewrite them?  Judith Butler suggests that gender is not a stable identity but a "regulatory fiction", a repetitive performance of acts constrained by social rules. This opens our understanding of the complexity of gender identities as well as possible interventions, for which performance art has become a unique field. In our upcoming 4-week online workshop "The Unruly Body: (De-) constructing and Performing Gender" with @steefkersbergen we explore the meaning, impact, and possibilities of performing gender. Using the foundational theories of Judith Butler and Jack Halberstam, in dialogue with the participants' lived experience, we will examine how society demands gender normativity, and how queer performances of gender can be used as acts of resistance. Starting from the potential found in Halberstam’s idea of ‘queer failure’, we will navigate the space between the personal and the political to develop artistic vocabularies of articulating gender.   Each session combines discussion of the provided references with physical and imaginative exercises. Participants will begin by exploring their own gendered performances and their inherent frictions. From there, we will adopt drag as a possible artistic strategy. Eventually participants will be invited to interrogate the political and performative texture of the gendered body in performance. Dates: May 25-June 15, Mondays 6-8pm CET #performanceart #performinggender #theunrulybody #performanceartcourse #eccperformanceart

One of the artists you sure will encounter in our upcoming online course "Rules of the Game: An Introduction to Task-based Performance" is the legendary Yoko Ono and her event score book "Grapefruit." Ono was one of the early artists to experiment with the conceptual side of artmaking, negating established ideas about art, products of art and artistic authority. In our class you will be invited to create and execute rule structures, directives and instructions that might seem to restrain the artist’s choice but potentially bring something unforeseen and unpredictable to the creative process. The focus of this course is the critical and practical consideration of these creative constraints as you are invited to examine the practice of using task-led activities as a means to conceive and compose performance. Dates: April 27- May 18, Mondays 6-8pm CET #performanceart #instructionbasedperformance #rulesofthegame ##performanceartcourse #eccperformanceart Performance by @carolekeating

I am so excited to be teaching this performance art class at ECC Performance Art—Rules of the Game: An Introduction to task-based Performance Art. We will look at artists like Tehching Hsieh and others who use prescribed instructions as a strategy to challenge norms and generate creativity. Course meets for (4) Mondays from 11-1pm central time starting April 27. More info: https://ecc-performanceart.eu/rulesofthegame #performanceart #performancearteducation #performanceartworkshop #taskedbasedperformance #onlinecourse

We are happy to share with you another recent addition to our 2026 online course roster: "The Unruly Body: (De-)constructing and Performing Gender" with @steef_kersbergen ! Is gender a script we are born with, or a rehearsal we never finish? Do you follow the rules, or break and rewrite them?  Judith Butler suggests that gender is not a stable identity but a "regulatory fiction", a repetitive performance of acts constrained by social rules. This opens our understanding of the complexity of gender identities as well as possible interventions, for which performance art has become a unique field. In this 4-week workshop we explore the meaning, impact, and possibilities of performing gender. Using the foundational theories of Judith Butler and Jack Halberstam, in dialogue with the participants' lived experience, we will examine how society demands gender normativity, and how queer performances of gender can be used as acts of resistance. Starting from the potential found in Halberstam’s idea of ‘queer failure’, we will navigate the space between the personal and the political to develop artistic vocabularies of articulating gender.   Each session combines discussion of the provided references with physical and imaginative exercises. Participants will begin by exploring their own gendered performances and their inherent frictions. From there, we will adopt drag as a possible artistic strategy. Eventually participants will be invited to interrogate the political and performative texture of the gendered body in performance Dates: May 25-June 15, Mondays 6-8pm CET To learn more and enroll visit link in bio! #performanceart #performanceartprogram #theunrulybody #performinggender #eccperformanceart

Welcome to our team, Steef Kersbergen (@steef_kersbergen )! Steef is a queer nonbinary performance artist whose work consists of durational performances, (alternative) image-making, and performance-based film making, focusing on a non-binary trans* perspective. Their research and performances are centered around identity de/re-construction through imagination, trans narratives around waiting for healthcare, in-betweenness and becoming, and the visibility and celebration of divergent identities. Steef has presented their work internationally, including at the @veniceperformanceartweek , @tdanse_festival , Museum Plock, and @frascatiamsterdam . Currently they are a lecturer at @homeofperformancepractices at ArtEZ University of the Arts, focusing on studio practice and feedback frameworks.  For ECC Performance Art Steef has developed a new course: "The Unruly Body: (De-)constructing and Performing Gender" (more info to follow soon). Welcome Steef, we are happy to have you! #performanceart #performanceartcourse #performanceartprogram #eccperfomanceartteam #theunrulybody

#PAVInterviews | “Performance art is the moment of truth.” — Anja Foerschner We sit down with Anja Foerschner to ask a simple but powerful question: What does performance art mean to you? Listen to the interview and hear about her experience. Now it’s your turn: What does it mean to you? Share your thoughts in the comments. - Watch and support art! By subscribing to PAV, you gain unlimited access to performance art videos on our platform. A portion of your subscription fee will be donated to the artists. 🔗 Link in bio to subscribe! - #PerformanceArtVideo #PerformanceArt #Wetrustinchange

PAV is thrilled to present Anja Foerschner, @performanceartvideo Associate Curator.💥 She is an art historian and curator of contemporary art, with a focus on feminist art, performance art, and art from Eastern Europe. Anja is the director of @ecc_performanceart and a lecturer at ArtEZ University’s Home of Performance Practices in the Netherlands. - Watch and support art! By subscribing to PAV, you gain unlimited access to performance art videos on our platform. A portion of your subscription fee will be donated to the artists. 🔗 Link in bio to subscribe! - #PerformanceArtVideo #PerformanceArt #Wetrustinchange

//OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS IN DIGITAL RESIDENCE - DIGILIVE AIR// We are currently seeking applications for 3 digital artist residencies on the topic of "Social Inclusion"! As part of the Creative Europe- funded project DigiLiveAiR, we commission three artists or artist groups based in a Creative Europe program country to develop performances-for-camera on the topic of ‘SOCIAL INCLUSION’. An inclusive society is equipped with mechanisms which accommodate diversity, and facilitate/enable people’s active participation in their political, economic and social lives. As such, it over-rides differences of race, gender, class, generation, and geography, and ensures equal opportunities for all to achieve full potential in life, regardless of origin We are looking for new works that involve critical, poetic or research-led explorations through body-based performance art of concepts that critically investigate into the de-facto level of social inclusion that society offers and shed light on processes of in- and exclusion, disadvantages, and marginalization that remain in place based on one’s identity. Selected artists will develop their works within a digital artist residence under the mentorship of ECC Performance Art director Anja Foerschner in the period from May - October 2026. The resulting films will be showcased in a public exhibition at the @veniceperformanceartweek in Italy in December 2026, and become part of the online platform @performanceartvideo . 📌Commission: EUR 2900 for the creation of a new original performance-based film 📌Eligibility: Artists or artists groups based in a Creative Europe programme country 📌Runtime: May 1-October 15, 2026 📌Application deadline: April 20, 2026 To learn more on how to apply visit our website or link in bio //DigiLiveAiR// DigiLiveAiR is co-funded by the European Union, and promotes inclusion, participation, and reflection through performance art in hybrid mode. A collaboration between @performanceartvideo , EntrAxis e.V., Studio Contemporaneo, NURT and Untitled Tbilisi. #OpenCalls #commission #digitalartistinresidence #opportunity #performanceart #performancebasedfilm #experimentalfilm #socialinclusion