Performance-as-Research

The Performance-as-Research Working Group explores issues related to performance (and creative practices) within scholarly research and is engaged in investigating methodologies where performance (or creative practice) is used as a central part of the research process.

HISTORY & MISSION

The Working Group was instigated by Baz Kershaw and Jacqueline Martin and had its first official working session in 2006. Since that time, the group continues to expand the network of researchers with each annual meeting, where the sharing of practice and subsequent group critical reflection informs and inspires new approaches to articulating and disseminating new knowledge within the vast fields of theatre and performance, gathered and obtained vis a vis creative (performance) practices. The term Performance-as-Research (PaR) covers various ways that different cultures, countries and academic contexts frame and name this kind of research.

Group members presenting at the Working Group sessions (25 each year) include researchers, artistic practitioners and theatre scholars representing Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, UK, and USA. Each year, up to 5 places are reserved for new members to participate in the group. Practical sessions at the annual conference are open to visitors to observe, although visitors will often be invited to participate in the workshop, at the discretion of the workshop facilitator(s).

Leadership History

Current Conveners (2017-2021): Bruce Barton, Manola Gayatri & Johnmichael Rossi
Founders: Baz Kershaw & Jacqueline Martin (2006)
2010-2013 Conveners: Anna Birch & Mark Fleishmann
2013-2017 Conveners: Annette Arlander, Jonathan Heron (-2016) and Emma Meehan

WORK PLAN

The following themes and questions frame our ‘calls’ for engagement, in conjunction with the themes set by each institution hosting IFTR.

PEDAGOGY: Can you teach PaR? Does PaR have its own pedagogy? Does PaR require intergenerational collaboration or can it be refefned by each new generation of practitioner-scholars?
LEGACY: How does PaR relate to other traditions internationally, e.g. 'artistic research,' 'research-led practice' and/or 'experimental systems'?
INTERDISCIPLINARITY & TRANSDISCIPLINARITY: How does PaR relate to the interdisciplinary trend within universities internationally? Does PaR contribute to a 'transdisciplinarization' of knowledge?
ECOLOGY & SUSTAINABILITY: Is PaR ecological and can this research methodology support sustainable practices? To what extent does PaR address unsustainable practices in academia? What do PaR scholars need to sustain their practices? What environmental conditions does PaR require?
SOMATIC: Can a wider exploration of human embodiment, somatic practice and movement analysis support PaR in the future?
WRITING: How does writing about PaR intervene in publication controversies within performance research and digital futures

2017-2021 CONVENOR'S PLATFORM

The IFTR Performance as Research Working Group has been a touchstone for the PaR/PBR field globally, setting the tone, guiding the focus, and providing the initiative for this discourse and body of activity since its inception. It therefore feels like a fruitful, even requisite moment for reflection, communal assessment and collaborative visioning in terms of the group’s mandate and energies in order to both fully capitalize on its many accomplishments, established profile, and accumulated status, and to ensure that its relevance, pioneering function, and international embrace are vitalized and enhanced. The collective membership of the PaR WG dates back even earlier than its first official session in 2006, and over the past four years we three have had the opportunity to work together within sub-groups, on panels, and throughout related conference activities. As a team of three artist-scholars, representing various parts of the globe (Manola: Indian citizen, based in South Africa; Bruce: Canadian; Johnmichael: American/Italian based in the UK), and with a range of research expertise and arts practices, we are well-equipped to build on the successes of previous convenors. Our general aim will be to assist the WG in moving towards an increased degree of articulation regarding its interests, activities, and ambitions, in accordance with changes in the Federation and developments within the field of PaR.

Below is a list aims and objectives that we would prioritize in facilitating the PaR WG that we believe reflect its collective interests, based on its activities over the past several years.
Ensure that the WG remains at the vanguard of the evolving discourse(s) and ecolog(ies) of PaR at this historical moment, through our publications, presentations, and practical experimentation.
Extend and make systematic our efforts towards documentation and dissemination, including an increased focus on processes through which creative practice is articulated and made accessible to a broad range of ‘audiences.’
Extend our considerations of the relationship between PaR practice and pedagogy as well as continue to critically engage PaR’s relationship within institutional frameworks as well as in non-institutionalised contexts.
Exchange and collaborate with other Working Groups at IFTR and with other PaR and Artistic Research organizations internationally, while extending the multi-, trans-, and interdisciplinary nature of our membership and activities.
Extend the diversity of not just our membership but also of our topics of discussion, our engagement with current research/creation activity, and our exploration of contemporary social, cultural, political, and identity-based contexts; this includes extending the personal and institutional connectedness of the WG, particularly in relation to the Global South.
Reassess and revise the shape of our annual meetings, both in terms of how these are scheduled within the conference program and in terms of how to most effectively utilize the time available to us.
Build mechanisms by which new WG members are welcomed and integrated into the established group.

2019 POST-CONFERENCE REPORT (FROM SHANGHAI CONFERENCE)

The IFTR PaR Working Group met for the 2019 conference in Shanghai, China.

Returning members included: Annette Arlander, Orestes Perez Estanquero, Priyanka Pathak, Walmeri Ribero, Ildiko Rippel, Johnmichael Rossi, Myer Taub; and new members: Michal Friedlander and Shabari Rao. All participated in different capacities; as workshop presenters, participants and observers. Co-convener Johnmichael Rossi facilitated the week’s programme, which was curated in collaboration with fellow co-convener Manola Gayatri who was unable to attend this year’s conference.

PaR WG’s eight sessions during the conference included:

· Monday 8 JULY: Introductory Session led by Johnmichael Rossi

· Tuesday 9 JULY Curated Workshop Group presents (Orestes Estanquero, Michal Friedlander & Walmeri Ribeiro)

· Wednesday 10 JULY: Curated Workshop Digestions Session

· Wednesday 10 JULY: Performance Conversation Group (Annette Arlander, Priyanka Pathak, Shabari Rao, Ildiko Rippel, Johnmichael Rossi & Myer Taub)

· Thursday 11 JULY: Performance Conversation Digestions Session

· Friday 12 JULY: PaR Associative Spiral and Closing PaReflection Session led by Johnmichael Rossi

In the Introductory session, Johnmichael provided an overview of the week’s schedule, and facilitated a variation of the PaR tradition ‘map exercise.’ The remainder of the session was allocated to sub groups meeting and planning for their sessions.

Members of the Curated Workshop Group intertwined aspects of their practice and methodological approach, which took the form of a physical workshop that had the working group migrating out of the studio space, through campus and into a public space, underneath an overpass on the streets of a rainy Shanghai. The following day, the group facilitated a feedback reflection session using a stream-of-conscious writing exercise as the initial prompt.

Members of the Performance Conversation Group entangled their current research topics and practice into a structured conversation designed around a set of rules and a fishbowl of prevailing topics and questions that were the residue of their planning sessions. The following day, the group facilitated a feedback refection, which was attended by group members and participants from the conference who took part in the experience.

The PaR Associative Spiral session (designed by co-convener) gave space for working group members to reflect along the same stream-of-conscious reflection that the Curated Workshop Group initiated on Day 3 of the conference. The Closing Reflection session was in part a business meeting to discuss the archive, plans for a book proposal and possible ways to stay connected between conferences; as well as feedback on session structures to be built upon and improved in Galway. We closed the session by returning to the work of the Curated Workshop Group that started the week; to end with practice—Orestes picked a vocal exploration led by new member Michal Friedlander.

2018 POST-CONFERENCE REPORT (FROM BELGRADE'sCONFERENCE)

The IFTR PaR Working Group met for the 2018 conference at Belgrade, Serbia. Returning members included: Juan Manuel Aldape, Annette Arlander, Jo Bucknall, Flavia Dominigues D’Avila, Rakel Ezpeleta, Mark Fleishman, Manola K Gayatri, Laurelann Porter, Johnmichael Rossi, Christina Schmutz, Myer Taub; and new members: Isabella Draghici, Orestes Perez Estanquero, Lucy Fielding, Christina Kapadocha, Priyanka Pathak, Pilvi Porkol, Ildiko Rippel and. All participate in different capacities; as workshop presenters, general panel members, participants and observers. Co-conveners Manola Gayatri and Johnmichael Rossi facilitated the week’s programme, which was curated in collaboration with fellow co-convener Bruce Barton who was unable to attend this year’s conference.

PaR WG’s eight sessions during the conference included:

Monday 9 JULY Session 1: Introductory Session led by Co-convenors:
Monday 9 JULY Session 2: Working Session for Sub-Groups to Plan and Prepare practical sessions
Tuesday 10 JULY Session 3: Documented Workshop Group 1 (Juan Manuel Aldalpe, Lucy Fielding & Johnmichael Rossi)
Wednesday 11 JULY Session 4: Performance-as-Research Working Group Sponsored General Panel (chaired by Johnmichael Rossi: presenters: by Diana Damian Martin & Generative Constraints, Manola Gayatri and Laurelann Porter)
Wednesday 11 JULY Session 5: Performance Conversation Group (Flavia Domingues D’Avila, Orestes Perez EstanqueroChristina Kapadocha, Idiko Rippel, and Myer Taub)
Thursday 12 JULY Session 6: Documented Workshop Group 2 (Jo Bucknall, Cristina Schmutz and Rakel Ezpeleta)
Thursday 12 JULY Session 7: Performance-as-Research Longtable (facilitated by Manola Gayatri)
Friday 13 JULY Session 8: Closing Reflection Session led by Co-convenors

In the Introductory session, Johnmichael gave a brief history of the group and an overview of the week’s schedule, followed by the traditional PaR ‘map exercise’ introduced to the WG by Dr. Jonathan Heron in the conference in Barcelona. The session culminated with an exercise that had group members reading, responding and exchanging to each members’ initial proposal. In the afternoon (session 2), members split into their subgroups to plan their respective co-curated sessions. Session 3 involved an embodied exploration of somatic memory, personal recollection and genealogies of learnt traditions from personal ‘pedagods’ (Rossi), to migrating pedagogy of Biomechanics (Fielding) and engaging with somatic memory and otherness (Aldape). The WG sponsored general panel invited Generative Constraints to present their work-in-progress ‘Breakup Variations,’ alongside PaR members Manola Gayatri and Laurelann Porter; all foregrounding practice as their research in performative presentations that explored themes of post-coloniality, transnational aesthetics and breakups. The panel culminated in a lively debate about the role of foregrounding research questions and stages of the research project in PaR to differentiate this research modality from performance as a solely aesthetic encounter.

Session 5 was an activation of different sites within the conference building through staged encounters that highlighted the intrusion and use of intimidation by various border controlling agents questioning the validity of belonging in a space, while exploring more personal otherings through memories of migration embodied, recorded and mediated. The interwoven workshop models often appeared seamless as one presenter led the workshop and then handed it over to the next making Annette Arlander comment on the potentials of disrupture.

Session 6 revisited the week’s beginning with somatic explorations and mediatised intersubjective encounters through more individual ways. Session 7, The Longtable; and Session 8; Closing Reflection explored methodological approaches for engaging the group as both a short and long-term thinking system, reflecting on the week’s work as well as brainstorming for the future.

2017 POST-CONFERENCE REPORT (FROM SAO PAULO’S CONFERENCE)

The 2017 conference workshops and events hosted by the PaR Working Group was well-attended, with several new members presenting adn sharing practice in collaboration with a smalle core group of retuirning members: Annette Arlander, Emma Meehan, Laurelann Porter, Johnmichael Rossi and Christina Schmutz. The Pre-Conference Workshop, “ile ogbon ati aye:” house of life wisdom was led by Laurelann Porter, with guest artist Maestro Monza Calabar was organized in collaboration with the Performance and Religion Working Group, and was open to all conference attendees. Approximately twenty delegates participated. A developing model for pre-conference workshops, provides an opportunity to collaborate with other working groups, which has been an expressed interest of PaR and other working groups.

Four Sub-Groups each led a ninety-minute workshop designed around the intermingling of the group members ‘papers,’ which were shared and discussed in advance of the conference. Across the four groups, there were a total of 16 Presenters. An additional 5 conference delegates attended the workshops as Visitors and were given the choice to participate, document or observe the work.

Workshop 1 (Led by Emma Meehan, Diego Pizarro and Cibele Sastre) involved explorations in somatic practice and ‘crossing the threshold.’
Workshop 2 (Led by Flavia D’Avila and Luciana Hartman) incorporated practices from Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed as well as D’Avila’s devised practice to explore the creation of narrative through sound, gesture and text.
Workshop 3 (Led by Marina Marcondes Machado and Chloe Dechery) explored space, object and the construction of narrative.
Workshop 4 (Led by Lucia Repasska and Christina Schmutz) involved the dislocating and de-contextualizing academic texts through long-form improvisation.

In addition there was an Opening Session led by Co-Conveners Annette Arlander and Emma Meehan, which framed the week’s activities within the group’s eleven-year history and forward-looking trajectory. The Closing Session, involving a scaffolded individual-to-group reflection led by incoming Co-Convener Johnmichael Rossi. The Curated (General) Panel included paper presentations by two of the three incoming conveners, Bruce Barton and Johnmichael Rossi, as well as Ciane Fernandes of Federal University of Bahia. Panel Chairs Emma Meehan and Annette Arlander encouraged the panel members to design a highly interactive panel in the spirit of PaR, that ruptured the traditional structure for paper presentations. Beginning with Barton’s discussion of Unstable Intimacies via Mixed Media Memories, a Skype-enabled presentation via live video, where attendees were asked to pair up and communicate with one another through their smartphone messaging apps. Rossi’s ‘playper’ disrupts his own performance-lecture where the cross-contamination of his playwrighting and academic writing practices, forge written embodiments of three research projects; characters as vessels emerge from the audience. Fernandes presentation on When somatic meets performative transformed the presentation space into a laboratory as attendants were introduced to Somatic-Performative Approaches to Performance-as-Research.

CONTACT

performanceasresearch@gmail.com

Convenors (2017-21): Bruce Barton, Manola Gayatri & Johnmichael Rossi

Articles
Resources

Performance-as-Research

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Performance as Research Working Group, IFTR 2022

CALL for ABSTRACTS: 2020 Galway (Performance as Research Working Group)

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS - SHANGHAI 2019

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