Speaking Futures with Diasporas Now
Live Art: Body as a Language
at Institute of Contemporary Arts
21 May, 2025
Live Art: Body as a Language is the third event in the Speaking Futures x Diasporas Now programme explores movement and performance with Olivier Award winning choreographer Ivan Michael Blackstock, artist and doctoral researcher SERAFINE1369, and V&A curator Meneesha Kellay. Began with a performance archive sharing by SERAFINE1369 and a live performance sharing by Ivan from his signature work TRAPLOAD, and follow up with a panel discussion chaired by Meneesha, we discussed what it means to use the body as practice and how movement can become its own type of language and form of expression.
Speaking Futures with Diasporas Now is a year-long cross-cultural public programme led by the collective-in-residence Diasporas Now at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, including live performances, panel talks, practice sharing, workshops and more. The programme is in partnership with AnOther Magazine.
Live Art: Body as a Language curated by Diasporas Now Co-Founder Lulu Wang with curator Hanna Geddes.
About Panels
Ivan Michael Blackstock
Ivan Michael Blackstock is a multidisciplinary creative from South London. Ivan is focused on his work as an independent artist, creating thought-provoking and political artistic expressions. His work has been showcased internationally, including at Sadlerโs Wells and 180 Studios (London), La Villette (Paris), Kampnagel (Hamburg), and ITA (Amsterdam). A contributing editor at Fact Magazine, he was awarded the Breakthrough Cultural Excellence in Film and Video (Nowness Awards, 2019) and shortlisted for DAZED 100 (2021).
SERAFINE1369
SERAFINE1369 is a dancer, artist and body-focused researcher working with dancing as a philosophical undertaking, a political project with ethical psycho-spiritual ramifications for being-in-the-world; dancing as intimate technology. They work with/in the context of the hostile architectures of the metropolis towards moments and states of transcendence and transmutation.
Meneesha Kellay
Meneesha Kellay is a curator working across art, architecture, design, and performance. Currently the Senior Curator, Contemporary at the V&A Museum, she supports emerging creative practice through commissioning artists and designers. She is an advocate for shifting museum practice with an interest in the transformative potential of the arts. With extensive experience in broadening participation, she champions methodologies that foster inclusive cultural environments and democratise museum spaces.