The series is informed by and runs alongside the theatre-based research project Staging Extreme Weather which Agat is leading at the Academy of Theatre & Dance (ATD) from October-January 2026 in which several UvA students are also involved. The seminars are an ongoing initiative of Laura’s special chair which aims to strengthen connections and exchange between AHK and UvA particularly on the topic of arts and climate justice. Participants in the seminars are also invited to join a public sharing of the practical research in January (see details below).

Climate Imaginaries seminar I:

Thursday 6th November, 4-6pm 

IDlab (5^th floor), ATD, Jodenbreestraat

With Brahma Prakash (online) on land in folk performance 

(no need to register)

Brahma Prakash is an Indian cultural theorist, writer and academician who teaches theatre and performance studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. His books include Bodies on the Barricades: Life, Art, and Resistance in Contemporary India (2023) and "Cultural Labour: Conceptualizing the 'Folk Performance' in India" (2019) – which has been particularly influential on Agat Sharma’s theatre practice.

Climate Imaginaries seminar II: Thursday 4th December, 4-6pm 

White Studio 2.09, DAS, Overhoeksplein 2 (2^nd floor)

With Leanne Betasamosake Simpson on storytelling, land and song

(registration required - link to come)

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a renowned Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg  musician, writer and academic, who has been widely recognized as one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation. Her work breaks open the boundaries between story and song—bringing audiences into a rich and layered world of sound, light, and sovereign creativity.

Working for two decades as an independent scholar using Nishnaabeg intellectual practices, Leanne has lectured and taught extensively at universities across Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe and has over twenty years experience with Indigenous land based education. She holds a PhD from the University of Manitoba and is a member of Alderville First Nation.

Leanne is the author of eight books, including A Short History of the Blockade and the novel Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies which was short listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction and the Dublin Literary Prize. Her collaboration with Robyn Maynard, Rehearsals for Living is a National Best Seller and was short listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction. Leanne is also a musician. Her latest release Theory of Ice was named to the Polaris Prize short list, and she is the 2021 winner of the Prism Prize’s Willie Dunn Award. Leanne’s new work, Theory of Water was short-listed for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for non-fiction.

Climate Imaginaries seminar III: Monday 12th January, 4-6pm 

OMHP room C 023

With Timoteus Anggawan Kusno on imagination, territory and colonialism

(no need to register)

Timoteus Anggawan Kusno (UvA) is a multi-disciplinary artist, researcher, and filmmaker whose practice encompasses installations, drawings, moving images, and institutional projects. His work critically examines the intersections of fiction and history, imagination and memory, as well as the enduring legacies of colonialism and authoritarian power. By employing a meta-fictional approach, Kusno interrogates the mechanisms of historical narrative construction, reflecting on the role of media, the significance of editing, and the underlying structures of production. Through this lens, he investigates how historical narratives are shaped by power, ideology, and systems of ignorance. Beyond his artistic and cinematic practice, Kusno has been developing the Centre for Tanah Runcuk Studies since 2013—an experimental art project structured as a fictional institution that examines the imaginary reconstruction of a lost territory in the Dutch East Indies. This project exemplifies his broader intellectual engagement with historiographical critique and the intersections of art, fiction, and power. He currently lives and works between Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Yogyakarta (Indonesia).

Staging Extreme Weather public sharing: Friday 9^th January, times tbc.

IDlab (5^th floor), ATD, Jodenbreestraat