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Art as a Vehicle for Dialogue

Friday, July 20

Venue: University of Vienna, AudiMax, Dr. Karl-Lueger-Ring 1 - renamed "Universitätsring", 1010 Vienna


Keynote and Artistic Performance:

Art as a Vehicle for Diaglogue

David Diamond, Headlines Theatre

Friday, July 20, 2.30 p.m. – 3.30 p.m.

Theatre for Living, a community-based art form done by Headlines Theatre, originates in the work of Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) and Augusto Boal (Theatre of the Oppressed), blended with David Diamond's interest in and commitment to a systems-based view. Systems theory is expressed in the ground-breaking work of physicist and founder of the Centre for Eco-literacy, Fritjof Capra. The speech will contain experiences with First Nations communities in Canada and the request to create community dialogue that moves beyond a binary model of “good” and “bad” characters. Communities are living organisms, and they need to use primal language (art) as a means to express themselves, just like people have this need. Art and Dialogue are community health issues. Art is the psyche of a nation, a community, a people. There’s a link to the work of John Paul Lederach and his book “The Moral Imagination” in which he calls for peacemakers to start thinking like artists, instead of technocrats. The keynote will incorporate some (mostly) non-verbal Image Theatre (that comes from the workshop) to animate the audience at the keynote.

David Diamond, Headlines Theatre (Artistic and Managing Director)

David Diamond is the Artistic Director of Headlines Theatre, Vancouver Canada. He is the author of “Theatre for Living: the art and science of community-based dialogue” (winner of the American Alliance of Theatre and Education “Distinguished Book Award”). Theatre for Living has emerged from Augusto Boal’s “Theatre of the Oppressed” and now approaches community-based cultural work from a systems-based perspective; understanding that a community is a complexly integrated, living organism. David has directed and facilitated hundreds of Theatre for Living projects over the last 30 years throughout Canada and the US, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand and in Palestine on issues of land rights, homelessness, addiction, racism, violence, intergenerational conflict, climate change, and many more. He is the recipient of numerous theatre and human rights awards including (most recently) the Otto Rene Castillo Award for Political Theatre, and a Honourary Doctorate from the University of the Fraser Valley.

University of Vienna | Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring 1 | 1010 Vienna | T +43 1 4277 17575