In an atmosphere of growing authoritarianism, how can we draw attention to performance as a transaction of sensorial agency – the right to be seen, heard, recognized – the right to be palpable? Improvised Futures attempts to frame performance as doing, as fraught negotiations of agency and identity. As it considers the performative effect of a range of ideas, actions and situations that have shaped society and defined cultural expression since the 1990s, it frames the body as a site of radical imagination. The volume comprises texts and artworks by artists, academics and activists, placing these works in conversation with each other in order to elicit new meanings and connections. Improvised Futures won the Publishing Next Award (2022) for Printed Book of the Year (English).
Buy Improvised Futures (South Asia)
Buy Improvised Futures (International Edition – for shipping outside South Asia)
Review of Improvised Futures | The Hindu | Gita Jayaraj | March 2022
