Susanne Franco on Dance, Memory, and Museums at PAC Milan

Susanne Franco, dance history professor at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, opened a three-day conference at PAC Milan on March 1, 2018, exploring the intersection of performing and visual arts. The event featured talks by Lois Keidan (Live Art Development Agency, London) on March 2 and André Lepecki (NYU Performance Studies) on March 3, alongside performances by Dora Garcia, Paulien Oltheten, Cristina Kristal Rizzo, Annamaria Ajmone, and video flashbacks of Vito Acconci and Gina Pane. Franco discussed how dance in museums preserves intangible heritage and challenges traditional narratives. She cited examples like Xavier Le Roy's 2012 retrospective at Fundació Antoni Tàpies, where performers engaged visitors with shifting roles. Franco addressed memory, archive, and the transmission of repertory, noting the closure of Merce Cunningham's company and the continuation of Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal under Adolphe Binder. She argued that dance and performance art are inherently political, shaping subjectivity through bodily presence in space.