The
performing Arts Department at Middlesex University presented a series of two
symposia on the practice of collaboration in performance-making. These events
brought together practitioners, scholars and PhD students concerned with
questions around the impact of collaborative practices in contemporary
performing-arts.
The
premise of this initiative was the observation that while collaboration in
the arts has become a crucial component of the creative process, cultural and
educational policy, it is only recently that an emphasis has been placed on
problematising the influence of co-labour in the disciplines of the performing
arts. The event was informed by the notion that performative art forms can be
seen to have an inherent collaborative aspect but that the role and place of
collaboration in contemporary performance was rarely addressed in the context
of academic research.
(See tab Symposium I above).
The second Symposium took place on Saturday, 18 May 2013 at Middlesex University, Hendon Campus, North London. This event addressed issues specific to the politics of collaboration.
Questions
of interest included:
• The politics of working together: relationships between collaborators at work
• Modes of performance-making: the ongoing search for
alternative modes of work
• Identity and performance: going beyond oneself in
contemporary contexts
• Theorising collaboration: matters of authorship in a
networked age
• Collaboration
across disciplinary and cultural borders
The
symposium featured a range of research papers and practice interventions, and
includes performance installations by Angela Woodhouse and Henrietta
Hale as well as Jane Bacon and Vida Midgelow.
Gerard Bell and Karen Christopher presented their work So Below (Haranczak/Navarre Performance Projects) to conclude the event.
KEYNOTES:
Simon
Murray. "Lightness of touch: politics and embodiment in
collaboration"
Rosemary Butcher
and Susan Melrose. A dialogue. "Just in time: collaborative memory work
and judgement in dance-making practices"
PLENARY
PANEL:
Emilyn
Claid, Susan Melrose, Josephine Machon, Simon Murray, Pedro de Senna,
Carole-Anne Upton
CONTRIBUTORS included:
Jane
Bacon, Jo Breslin, Julie Brixey-Williams, Camilla Brueton, Jane Carr,
Noyale Colin, Jill Cowley, Campbell Edinborough, Steve Fossey, Sara
Giddens, Mariella Greil, Simon Jones, Simon Kennedy, Beverley Hood,
Ola Johansson, Mark James Hamilton, Tim Jeeves, Alexandra Kolb, Deirdre
McLaughlin, Freddie Opoku-Addaie, Eugenie Pastor, Ailsa
Richardson, David Roberts, Martina Ruhsam, Stefanie Sachsenmaier, Rajni
Shah, Pedro De Senna, Theron Schmidt, Arabella Stanger, Stephanie Schober,
Tuuli Tahko, Stuart Tait, Leigh Tredger, Caroline Younger
