ONLINE ARTISTIC RESEARCH EXCHANGES in a PANDEMIC

A significant component of my artistic research activity takes place within the context of international working groups that I co-convene within three separate organizations and with other artist-scholars from five different countries. Unavoidably, in all three cases, the unprecedented disruption of the global pandemic has eliminated the option of travel and unmediated interaction.

While this is proving disruptive across almost all disciplines, it is particularly challenging for researchers and practitioners working in highly collaborative areas, such as artistic research. For many, being “in the room” together is a foundational principle for enactive, embodied and emergent exploratory processes. Navigating the current situation is especially complicated and urgent in these areas of activity.

As a partial response to this predicament, over the Spring and Summer of 2020 my colleagues and I have organized separate online exchanges for the Artistic Research Working Group of Performance Studies international, the Performance as Research Working Group of the International Federation for Theatre Research, and Articulating Artistic Research, an interdisciplinary seminar often (although not exclusively) held within the Canadian Association for Theatre Research. Each of the exchanges adopted a distinctly different format: one took place a single day, four hour session; another involved three separate gatherings within a 10 day period, ranging from 90 minutes to three hours; a third involved no synchronous activity, and rather unfolded over several months of online correspondence.

We’ve learned a lot about what was–and what wasn’t–effective in the models we piloted, and have begun to share our experiences and discoveries (and frustrations) with others in related circumstances (there are no shortage of counterparts). We’re also exploring new iterations and adaptations, as a modest contribution to the map of possible courses for both scholarly and artistic exchange and collaboration within the constantly shifting and evolving landscape of a global pandemic.

 

PSi ARTISTIC RESEARCH
WORKING GROUP

IFTR/FIRT PERFORMANCE AS RESEARCH

ARTICULATING ARTISTIC RESEARCH

We’ve learned a lot about what was–and what wasn’t–effective in the models we piloted, and have begun to share our experiences and discoveries (and frustrations) with others in related circumstances (there is no shortage of counterparts). We’re also exploring new iterations and adaptations, as a modest contribution to the map of possible courses for both scholarly and artistic exchange and collaboration within the constantly shifting and evolving landscape of a global pandemic.