International Human Rights Art Festival at 30th Street theater

The International Human Rights Art Movement announces its IHRAF Festival: Hannah Arendt, highlighting the thought and power of the 20th century social philosopher Hannah Arendt, and how her work informs our understanding of today’s social and political world.

IHRAF: Arendt, funded by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts and in conjunction with the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard college, highlights her ideas through dance, theater, puppetry, music and other artistic means, 15 performances chosen out of 100 submissions.

Specifically, we looked for performance work that treated the following themes, which defined some of her most important ideas.

• Banality of Evil: evils can be perpetrated by ordinary people who are complacent.
• Refugees and Immigration: Their plight is that no law exists for them.
• Human Rights: Human rights only exist when there is a government to protect them.
• Totalitarianism: People are attracted by every promise of a man-made Paradise.
• Truth and Politics: he who tries to free the public from falsehood is in danger of their life.
• Free Will: When there is no possibility of resistance, there is the possibility of doing nothing.
• Human Nature: Human's 'nature' is only 'human' insofar as it opens up to [a person] the possibility of becoming something highly unnatural, that is, a human.

Hannah Arendt was born into a German-Jewish family, was forced to leave Germany in 1933, and lived in Paris for the next eight years. In 1941 she immigrated to the United States and soon became part of a lively intellectual circle in New York. She held a number of academic positions at various American universities until her death in 1975. More biographical information HERE.

The International Human Rights Art Movement uses creative platforms (Festivals, IHRAM Press, African Secretariat etc.) to give voice to artists and issues around the world. We protect freedom of expression by highlighting those who might be suppressed or oppressed in their home countries. We bring together all members of society, from artists in-exile and at risk; to activists on the front lines of the struggle for rights and justice; to creators working in all media; to national and international politicians, government agencies, social leaders and celebrities. IHRAF: Arendt is made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

IHRAF Festival: Arendt Schedule

• Friday June 5, 7 pm

1. The Banality of Being a Balloon by Emmanuelle Zagoria (Music/Performance)
2. Flaco by Dakota Silvey (Theater)
3. Free to Change the World by Megan J. Minturn/MJM Dance (Dance)
4. Cultured by Notch Theatre Company (Theater)
5. Get Home Safe by Poppy Louise Miller (Dance)

FREE after-party for all audience members and anyone else interested!

• Saturday June 6th, 3 pm

Discussion (FREE-Please reserve your spot HERE:) The Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College presents a discussion with artists and scholars about how Arendtian ideas influenced their work. Moderated by Thomas Bartscherer (Peter Sourian Senior Lecturer in the Humanities at Bard College) and featuring Jenny Lyn Bader (playwright) and three IHRAF artists: Emmanuelle Zagoria (The banality of being a balloon), Shailly Agnihotri (The Supremes) and Dylan Horowitz (Living The Dream).

• Saturday June 6th, 7 pm

1. Songs Against Silence by Rashmi Singh (Music)
2. Hysterical Women by Contremune Dance (Dance)
3. I Need A New… by Meghan Duffy (Theater)
4. The Supremes by 88 Wash Productions (Musical Theater)
5. On Thinking by Cecilia Whalen Dance (Dance)

• Sunday June 7th, 3 pm

1. Hannah Arendt: a Cantastoria by Redwing Blackbird Theater (Puppetry)
2. Living the Dream by Dylan Reed Berman Horowitz (Theater)
3. This Together by Rebecca Lloyd-Jones (Dance)
4. Small Things That Go Boom! by Marcus Harmon (Theater)
5. The Sky is Green and the Grass is Blue (Excerpt) by DoubleTake Dance (Dance)