Sep 23+24. Anna-Mi Fredriksson (SE): The Economic Body. Part 1
Anna-Mi Fredriksson has a professional background as a classical dancer and currently studies at Stockholm School of Economics. In 2014, she initiated the interdisciplinary project The Economic Body in which theories in social science are investigated through choreographic practice. After an initial researching phase, the project is subject to the following question: In what way is individual behaviour choreographed by institutional, social and economic structures? The work is presented as a choreography for the dancers Kajsa Sandström and Sandra Gerdin.
Concept and choreography: Anna-Mi Fredriksson
Dance: Kajsa Sandström and Sandra Gerdin
Fredriksson’s ambition has been to investigate the relationship between an academic analysis and a choreographic process, and to find a mutual relationship between the two. It is an interdisciplinary study that conceptually combines frameworks from artistic research in choreography with arts-based research in social science. A method has been developed through five iterative phases where personal reflection forms the basis for theoretical research, followed by interdisciplinary discussions with researchers and professionals within economics, philosophy, sociology, and arts. Documentation through audio, visuals, and text has further evoked a number of choreographic experiments, developed during a residency at Weld. Furthermore, video documentation has been used as a tool for analysing bodily behaviour in an elaborative choreographic process that becomes analytical rather that illustrative. A summary of the process documentation has resulted in a written analysis that was generated by, and corresponds to, the choreography.
Fredriksson has sought friction between disciplines to highlight gaps between different fields of knowledge, ideologies and worldviews. Foremost, this friction has been explored through daily practices involved in knowledge production related to the body versus a market logic. By investigating performative aspects of economic theories and processes (Callon 2007), the work focuses on societal structures and systems and its limitations in relation to the body. The choreography that has generated this question was first presented at the international Art of Management Conference (AoMO) in August 2014.
Reference:
Callon, M. (2007) What Does It Mean To Say That Economics Is Performative. In: D. MacKenzie, F. Muniesa, L. Siu, Eds. Do Economists Make Markets? On the Performativity of Economics. (pp. 311–357) Princeton: Princeton University Press.
The project was realized with the support by Kulturbryggan, Weld, The Education Committee at Stockholm School of Economics Student Association and SSES Campus at Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship.
ANNA-MI FREDRIKSSON
is educated at the Royal Swedish Ballet School (1996-2004) and at the English National Ballet School (2005), and she worked as a dancer with The English National Ballet (2005-2009). In 2010, she initiated her own projects during artistic residency at Shunt, London, amongst others with music producer William Orbit, which resulted in a series of performances presented at The Lowry Museum, Manchester. Anna-Mi danced in the performance Reconsideration by Anna Koch at Weld (2012) that explored the classically trained body. Since then, she has studied at Stockholm School of Economics, where she has co-founded the organisation Art Division, exploring and developing the relationship between arts, business and society.