wend (verb): to go in a specified direction, typically slowly or by an indirect route; to find one’s way.
WENDER COLLECTIVE is an international arts & performance collective with a long history of generative experimentation. Originally formed in 2013 as a laboratory devising ensemble within WALKABOUT THEATER COMPANY, the artists of WENDER initiated a process of separation in 2021 by creating a new name in better alignment with their values (the term “walkabout” is rooted in colonial misrepresentation and serves the ongoing dismissal and disrespect of Indigenous Australian cultural practices).
WENDER COLLECTIVE now functions fully independently, engaging in various artistic, cultural, social and ecological actions in Chicago and beyond. WENDER works to restore the confluences of these artificially-channelized streams of human activity, applying many years of shared somatic practice and inter-disciplinary performance research to cultivate enchantment through and beyond art.
