PERFORMING ENDS SYMPOSIUM 2026

Queries: PerformingEnds.2026@gmail.com

All ends are not the same. But will we end together? And what does togetherness mean when facing the end? Whose and which worlds are ending? This symposium seeks to explore further how we think, work, and be together amidst ongoing conditions of endings. The ends are inflected with and performed through capitalist and colonial purposes. In the face of planetary extinctions and systemic unravelings, we are interested in how performance troubles and resists such ends and also how it facilitates and accelerates such conditions. A key aspect of this gathering is to consider how we might cultivate practices of cooperation, share knowledge generously, and foster sustainable modes of research grounded in reciprocity, attentiveness, and mutual care.

Keynotes by

• Evelyn Wan, Utrecth University

• Eduardo Okamoto, State University of Campinas

• And featuring a special lecture by Tim Etchells (Forced Entertainment).

Conference organisers: Luca Domenico Artuso (University of Antwerp), Marco Caracciolo (University of Gent), Felipe Cervera (University of California, Los Angeles), Renata Gaspar (i2ADS/ESMAE, Porto), Sozita Goudouna (Goldsmiths, University of London), Kyoko Iwaki, (University of Antwerp), Eero Laine (University at Buffalo, State University of New York), Sarah Lucie (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), Juliana Moraes (University of Campinas), Evan Moritz (University of Toronto), Jonas Schnor (University of Antwerp), Theresa Spielmann, (University of Antwerp), Christel Stalpaert (University of Gent), Aneta Stojnić (Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, New York), Nilüfer Ovalıoğlu Gros (Paris Sciences et Lettres University- National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts).