This is a nested exploration of selected theories and practices of the ways mediation – including easy-to-access handheld technologies – intertwines itself with, around and against compositional process in performance. From finding cows in a small town in Germany, to discovering historical British women’s emancipation on the lawn with Wollstonecraft, through to performing alongside a persistent juniper near Helsinki, the volume also explores important conversations that problematise key challenges in writing (about) PaR (Performance as Research).
© IIPM / photo: D. Seiffert
Table of Contents
Introduction
•Bruce Barton & Melanie Dreyer-Lude
Introduction to the volume by two of the volume curators-editors, Bruce Barton and Melanie Dreyer-Lude, exploring the encounter that generated these contributions.
video artwork
Swimmer (68) Trailer plus selected workshop still images from YouTopia
Video and photo excerpts from the projects • Swimmer (68) video recording by Derrick Beecham; edited by Vojin Vasovic. YouTopia photographs by Bruce Barton- writing
New Betrayals: Intimacy in Mediatized Performance
Swimmer (68) Trailer plus selected workshop still images from YouTopia
Video and photo excerpts from the projects • Swimmer (68) video recording by Derrick Beecham; edited by Vojin Vasovic. YouTopia photographs by Bruce BartonBruce Barton
Bruce Barton explores of the nature and possibilit(ies) of intimacy in mediatized performance contexts through the examination of two practice-based performance projects: YouTopia by Vertical City (2013) and Swimmer (68) by Hopscotch Collective (2011), featured in the accompanying video.
Interlude 1: Arriving at the Group
•Bruce Barton, Melanie Dreyer-Lude, Anna Birch & Mark Fleishman
Bruce and Melanie explore their arrival at the 2012 meeting of the IFTR/FIRT PaR Working Group; Mark and Anna offer a brief historical introduction to the group.
video artwork
The Wollstonecraft Live Experience! (Isadora Version)
Outdoor projection of Wollstonecraft Live! documentary and Vindication costume drama by Kaethe Fine; Triopicnic event on Newington Green, London • directed by Anna Birch; live music with Deirdre Cartwright ; video edited by Jana Riedel- writing
Approaching Performance Through Mediation
The Wollstonecraft Live Experience! (Isadora Version)
Outdoor projection of Wollstonecraft Live! documentary and Vindication costume drama by Kaethe Fine; Triopicnic event on Newington Green, London • directed by Anna Birch; live music with Deirdre Cartwright ; video edited by Jana RiedelAnna Birch
As a theatre director, Anna Birch directs works often created for and in found spaces. Here, she explores the effects of digital capture, in particular video, on live work, and through a study of her production Wollstonecraft Live!, she considers the role of the camera in the archiving and documenting this kind of work.
video artwork
Interlude 2: In the studio
Selected activites of the PaR Working Group, 2012 IFTR/FIRT annual conference • recording, editing: James Wilson- writing
Interlude 2: In the Studio
Interlude 2: In the studio
Selected activites of the PaR Working Group, 2012 IFTR/FIRT annual conference • recording, editing: James WilsonBruce Barton, Melanie Dreyer-Lude, Daniela Hahn & James Andrew Wilson
We invite you to taste the working and workshop processes of the Performance as Research Working Group meeting in Santiago, 2012, through video and in writing.
video artwork
Excerpts from the DVD installation of Mapping Ottersberg
presented by the Festival of Art as Research: Translation, in Ottersberg, Germany, May 2012 • video by Melanie Dreyer-Lude, Cory Tamler and Christina Kruise; all photos by Christina Kruise.- writing
Mapping Ottersberg: A Case Study Using Performance Intervention in Performance-as-Research
Excerpts from the DVD installation of Mapping Ottersberg
presented by the Festival of Art as Research: Translation, in Ottersberg, Germany, May 2012 • video by Melanie Dreyer-Lude, Cory Tamler and Christina Kruise; all photos by Christina Kruise.Melanie Dreyer-Lude
Peruse the video and delve into the writing around Melanie Dreyer’s, Cory Tamler’s and Christina Kruise’s performance intervention in Ottersberg, Germany, interrogating local citizens’ perceptions of place and space. Ask yourself: where can we find otters?
Interlude 3: To Write PaR: An International Conversation
•Annette Arlander
International conversations on the challenges of writing about Performance as Research.
video artwork
Year of the Rabbit – With a Juniper (short), Arlander 2012
For full details, see http://www.av-arkki.fi/en/works/year-of-the-rabbit-with-a-juniper/ • concept, performance, camera and editing by Annette Arlander- writing
Immediate Mediation: On the Performativity of Blogging
Year of the Rabbit – With a Juniper (short), Arlander 2012
For full details, see http://www.av-arkki.fi/en/works/year-of-the-rabbit-with-a-juniper/ • concept, performance, camera and editing by Annette ArlanderAnnette Arlander
Annette suggests that social media could provide a model for understanding performance today, and describes a case study, her experiences of blogging in relation to the project Year of the Rabbit – With a Juniper. Accompanied by video from the project.
Interlude 4: To Write PaR, Once Upon a Time in the Chilly North
•Annette Arlander
A personal perspective on the challenges and practices of writing about Performance as Research, including inspiring ideas.
The Listener as Investigator: Mediating Documents in Hate Radio
•Daniela Hahn
Daniela explores the mediation processes between performers, spectator-listeners and archival documents related to the role of the RTLM radio station during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, as well as the politics of recognition arising from the re-enactment.
Last word: 'Thanks'
•Anna Birch
Thank you note from IFTR/FIRT PaR Working Group co-convenor Anna Birch, offered to her fellow curator-editors, with more information about the 2012 meeting of the Working Group.