Event details

A conversation between the Swedish artists behind Point of You, a participatory performance created in many communities that allows participants to reflect on freedom and social sustainability, and Lewis Center Lecturer in Theater Aaron Landsman, founder of Perfect City, a multigenerational, multiracial arts cohort based in New York City. This informal and rich conversation explores how theater offers tools to learn one anothers' histories and imagine new ways to be in community. The guest will discuss how hand-drawn maps, theatrical reenactment, and new dialogues help communities repair the future. Join us with questions or provocations of your own. Light refreshments provided.

About the Projects

Point of You connects to research on future generations and social sustainability at the Institute for Futures Studies in Sweden. The performance has been presented at theaters and museums and can be adapted to different venues and contexts.

Perfect City's current partnerships include The Center for Democracy Innovation at The National Civic League, PolicyLink, and Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA. The project uses maps, reenactments and other forms for gathering and navigating.

About the Guests

Point of You

Jörgen Dahlqvist received his Ph.D. from the Malmö Theatre Academy in 2025 on how theater can create encounters around the challenges of our time. His doctoral project investigated how different forms of representation in theatre can address democracy's challenges. It also highlighted the potential of various dialogical models such as conversation, perspective-taking and invitations to self-reflection within the project's theatre format. Dahlqvist will be responsible for implementing WP 1-4. He will also, together with Wolgast, conduct the meta-analysis in WP 7.

Tomas Rajnai is the artistic director of Osynliga Teatern and has over 15 years of experience working at the intersection of artistic practice, documentary storytelling and audience participation. In recent years he has been involved in artistic research, in projects at IFFS. Rajnai has extensive experience in performance installations where the audience is invited to participate, observe and influence. He is accustomed to working with different stage formats and translating these into new contexts, not least in collaboration with museums. In the project, Tomas will work in WP 1-4, implementing the developed model and developing educational conversation models in close dialogue with the museums. Another central task is contributing to the educational development of the museum's persona and facilitating conversations based on visitor encounters.

Niklas Mesaros is a Swedish spoken word poet, author, director and lecturer. He made his stage debut in 2009 and is a two-time Swedish Poetry Slam Champion (2010 and 2012). Since then, he has performed and taught spoken word extensively in Sweden and internationally. Mesaros has been closely associated with the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten), Sweden’s national theatre, since the beginning of its Spoken Word programme in 2009. Alongside his artistic work, Mesaros has extensive experience leading workshops and working with young people through spoken word and performance. For Point of You, Mesaros serves as a conversation facilitator, combining his experience as a performer and educator with the ability to create an open, attentive and engaging space for dialogue.

Perfect City

Aaron Landsman is a performance maker, writer, and teacher. He is a Lecturer at Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts. His awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, and a Princeton Arts Fellowship. Recent projects include Night Keeper, a performance about insomnia as urban communion, commissioned by The Chocolate Factory Theater and released on vinyl with Hallow Ground Records; and All The Time in the World, a performance and game about social media. He is the co-author with with Mallory Catlett of The City We Make Together, published by the University of Iowa Press. He has performed with Elevator Repair Service Theater, Tim Etchells, Pink Fang, Richard Maxwell, Tory Vazquez and Julia Jarcho. Perfect City's current collaborators include Nadia Misir, Jahmorei Snipes, and Tiffany Zorrilla.

Admission

The event is free and open to Princeton University students, staff and faculty. No registration required.

Directions

Get directions to Kerr Studio, located on the second floor of Wallace Dance Building in Lewis Arts complex.

Accessibility

The Kerr Studio is an accessible venue. Visit our Venues and Studios section for accessibility information about our various locations. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.