Dr. Petra Kuppers

Biography

Petra Kuppers is a disability culture activist and community performance artist based at the University of Michigan's Department of English Language and Literature. With a PhD from Falmouth College of Art and Plymouth University, she creates participatory performance environments that engage public spaces through tenderness and access experimentation. Her work marries ecosomatics with performance and speculative writing, fostering socially enjoyable futures. Kuppers is a recipient of numerous accolades, including the 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2022/23 Dance/USA fellowship. Her academic literature is significant, with works such as "Disability Contemporary Performance: Bodies Edge" and "Eco Soma: Pain Joy Speculative Performance Encounters," which have received accolades such as the ATHE Book Prize. Kuppers's artistic endeavors extend to her role as Artistic Director of Olimpias, where she co-creates community performance pieces. Additionally, she actively contributes to the discourse on disability through publications and seminars, emphasizing generative dialogues in disability performance studies.

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