Performance as Research Working Group Call for Proposals

Since its inception in 2004, the Performance-as-Research Working Group has positioned artistic practice as a powerful, alternative methodology for conducting research, continuously provoking discussions around the different epistemic modalities facilitated by, in and through performance. This year’s focus on myth as a form of knowledge, as ‘a form of explanation,’ and the invitation to consider ‘how theatre and performance may be seen as sites of myth making’ are particularly relevant to the working group’s points of departure. Investigating how performance-as-research can serve the overall movement towards decolonisation in the discipline, we intend to explore ‘decoloniality in myth making and performance’ as research, performance as research itself as myth and mythology and working group practices as a mythodology.

The PaR Working Group welcomes those working in multiple and mixed artistic practices involving dance, theatre, performance art, live art and other socially engaged artistic practices, as well as other types of cultural performances and performative practices. We encourage returning members and potential new members to consider their own PaR practices in relation to the following questions that will guide us in our 'participatory laboratory' at the annual conference.

● How does PaR engage myth, myths and mythology?

● Does the PaR approach itself function as a mythology? Does this mean building, creating, constructing, deconstructing or disrupting established forms of knowing and telling stories?

● How can PaR methodology be used to address and/or intervene in the myth of nature and the myth of humanity? Can PaR create a pathway for forging a posthumanist mythology?

● How can critical and political questions that need urgent deliberation in our time pertaining to race, gender, sexuality, Indigeneity, and disability find different epistemic, embodied and relational mythologies through PaR?

● In what ways can PaR work with African, Indigenous, decolonial and Southern hemispheric traditions, practices and myths to create just epistemic pathways in academia?

● How can existing artistic approaches and practices of myth-making and/or mythology in theatre and performance be reimagined, or unimagined, through PaR? What would this mean in the context of Africa? Or elsewhere, globally? 

The PaR Working Group functions as a ‘laboratory’ where members collaborate and interweave aspects of their individual practice/research in sub-groups, which then organise working group sessions in formats ranging from a series of performative presentations to performance conversations, from interactive PaR installations to documented workshops. 

We welcome proposals of performance as research that respond to the questions above. Presenters will be expected to share materials prior to the conference (which can be in the form of traditional papers, powerpoint presentations, participatory workshop plans, audiovisual or filmographic documentation of practice, manifestos etc).

SUBMISSION PROCESS

The deadline for submissions is 31 January 2023. All applicants should follow the instructions on the conference website: https://iftr.org/conference/call-for-papers.

Once you have submitted your proposal via the Cambridge University Press website, please send a copy to performanceasresearch@gmail.com. Please include a 100-word bio and full contact information in this email. All questions about the working group, the CfP, or the conference itself can be sent to the same address.

PaR Working Group Co-Conveners:

Göze Saner, Kabi Thulo, Laurelann Porter & Mark Tatlow