Tired, old, dead stories resurrect. As part of the Spring 2020 Intra-Disciplinary Seminar series, Kaneza Schaal delivers a free, public lecture, "Killing Zombies: Social Practice, Creative Practice, & American Avant-Garde," in which she explores the mythological strangleholds on process, aesthetics, and audience that haunt our cultural landscapes. Great story-telling requires speaking many languages. How artists engage formal, historical, cultural, and experiential lexicons can help care for ideas and people who are often un-invited to the theater. Work that speaks many languages can speak to many people. Schaal will share the tools and libraries from which she built her recent works GO FORTH, JACK &, and CARTOGRAPHY.

Kaneza Schaal is a New York City based theater artist. Her recent works have shown nationally at BAM, The Kennedy Center, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Walker Arts Center, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, The New Victory Theater and internationally at Cairo International Contemporary Theater Festival, Egypt; Genocide Memorial Amphitheater in Kigali, Rwanda; Abu Dhabi Arts Center, UAE; and The Holland Festival. Schaal received a 2019 United States Artists Fellowship; a 2019 Soros Art, Migration & Public Space Fellowship; a 2018 Ford Foundation Art For Justice Bearing Witness Award; a 2017 MAP Fund Award; and a 2016 Creative Capital Award. Her work with The Wooster Group, Elevator Repair Service, Richard Maxwell/New York City Players, Claude Wampler, Lars Jan, and Dean Moss has brought her to venues including Centre Pompidou, The Whitney Museum, and MoMA.

The Spring 2020 IDS Lecture Series at The Cooper Union is organized by Leslie Hewitt and Omar Berrada. The IDS Public Lecture Series is part of the Robert Lehman Visiting Artist Program at The Cooper Union.  We are grateful for major funding from the Robert Lehman Foundation. The IDS Public Lecture Series is also made possible by generous support from the Open Society Foundations.