WEBINAR – June 2021
Performances in Public Space: Responses to Uncertainty in a Time of Pandemic
“Public space is contested both as a concept and actuality and that ambivalence makes it appealing to street artists who often seek to expose the normative behavioural codes, social constructions and ideological operations at work there.”
Susan Haedicke
The possibilities of performance in public space are vast, from challenging societal norms and conventions, to sharing joy and hope. Covid-19 has made so many of us think about how these possibilities can be invited, supported and made accessible.
Organised by The Centre for Performance Practice and Research (CPPR) at The University of Winchester and its research project The Institute of Place the webinar looked at how performance in public space is responding to the challenges and possibilities that Covid-19 has brought. It included practitioners, researchers, policy makers and funders for a day of presentations and conversations to exchange ideas on current issues in Public Space Performance.
Contributors:
Charmaine Childs – Self-Producing artist and Creator of Strong Enough, an outdoor circus show
Stella Hall – Festival Producer and Co-Director of National Festival of Thrift, the UK’s only national celebration of sustainable living
Andrew Loretto – Director of the Hat Fair, the Winchester based festival of Street Performance and Outdoor Arts
Clive Lyttle – Artistic Director, Certain Blacks, a diverse led arts organisation
Angus MacKechnie – Executive Director of OutdoorArtsUK a national membership and strategic organisation that advocates for Outdoor Arts across cultural, governmental, public funding and private funding arenas
Lorna Rees – Artistic Director, Gobbledegook Theatre, an outdoor multidisciplinary arts practice and production company
Sho Shibata – Executive Producer, StopGap Dance Company, an international touring company of disabled and non-disabled dancers
Cathy Turner – Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter. Author of Dramaturgy and Architecture: Theatre, Utopia and the Built Environment
– What opportunities are there now for forward looking and hope building through public performance?
– How can opportunities emerge from limitations?
– What issues are raised by the controlled regulation of embodied encounters?
– How has Covid-19 reduced confidence in social interaction and how does this have an impact on the potential pleasure an audience might experience in sharing physical space?
– To what extent does the rapid adaptation to a digital realm offer the potential for inclusivity and accessibility in public performance?
The event was chaired by Noyale Colin, Senior Lecturer University of Winchester and John Lee visiting fellow University of Winchester/co director Fuseperformance, and Kat Hawkins PhD Researcher C-DaRE, Coventry University.
Sho Shibata (Stopgap) wrote a blog following his participation: https://www.stopgapdance.com/blog/back-on-the-road-signature-blog
Sheila Ghelani Residency – 2020-21
https://prezi.com/view/hGTU0yoa5BxR1mnPSj1V/
The new website for the Institute of Place project was launched on Friday 19th June.
Click below to access its recording.
Guest speaker: John Lee in conversation with Gordon Murray about his project – FALLOUT. Portraits of Nuclear Children.