Performing Science: Dialogues Across Cultures. The Science and Performance Conference
Dates: 23-25 avril 2014
Lieu: The Lincoln School of Performing Arts, The University of Lincoln, Royaume-Uni.
Deadline: 20 décembre
The Performing Science conference will bring together artists and practitioners, producers and funders, as well as academic scholars from humanities and scientific disciplines to examine the intersections between performance and science – past, present, and future. Through multi-professional perspectives and conversations, the conference seeks to pave the way for a comprehensive, synoptic and contextual overview of science-performance, both in its contemporary and historical forms.
The performing arts are embracing science as never before. Contemporary science-engaged performance manifests a diversity that defies tidy labelling. Cross-disciplinary collaborations between scientists and artists, instances of post-dramatic staged science, and challenges to entrenched beliefs about science and its past have generated scholarly and media attention. Science-engaged performance also enjoys rich historical traditions, which merit further investigation. Claims made about the artistic and cultural significance of the emerging science-performance relationship are many and varied. The conference seeks therefore to create a forum for exchanging insight into the nature and importance of such work.
Confirmed Speakers include: Michael Frayn (playwright, novelist, translator); Professor Carl Djerassi (Stanford University, chemist, novelist, playwright); Dr Alex Mermikides (Kingston University; theatre-maker); Professor Robert Marc Friedman (University of Oslo, playwright); Dr Paul Johnson (University of Wolverhampton); Darren Tunstall (University of Central Lancashire; playwright); Michael Carklin (University of Glamorgan); Professor Eva-Sabine Zehelein (University of Regensburg, translator); Jack Lowe (Artistic Director, Curious Directive Theatre Company); Jon Spooner (Artistic Director, Unlimited Theatre).
Special Conference Events: The conference will host the world premiere of Carl Djerassi’s latest play, Foreplay. Accompanying events include a public debate about the implications of advances in assisted reproductive technology (ART).
The conference will also include workshops, performances and play-readings.
The conference and performances will be held at The Lincoln Performing Arts Centre (LPAC), which houses The Lincoln School of Performing Arts, at The University of Lincoln.
Proposals
We are inviting proposals for: Papers (20 minutes) and Workshops (60 to 90 minutes). We encourage contributions from performance scholars, scientists, artistic practitioners, science communication scholars, medical humanities scholars and practitioners, science and arts writers.
Themes for papers and workshops might include (but are not limited to):
• examinations of specific works or practitioners – particularly Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen and the science plays of Carl Djerassi
• transcending C. P. Snow: performance and science across and beyond the ‘two cultures’; symbiotic and parasitic relations between scientists and artists
• classifying performance-science engagements: science plays, science in theatre, science and theatre
• performance and public engagement in science, science as popular entertainment
• new developments and experiments in science-performance
• science as pedagogy in performance: harmonizing didacticism and art
• science as performance: performative character of scientific practices
• performance as science: neuroscience, cognitive science and reception theory
• science/performance and cultural/funding policy (gatekeepers and patrons)
• dramatising science: what is a successful play about science?
• scientific metaphor and performance/drama: from constituent elements of artistic events to clever amusement and fodder for academic discourse
The conference seeks an inclusive understanding of both Performance and Science. Performance includes theatre plays, dance, performance/live art, live music performance, public lectures, interactive activities involving live performers (eg, museum tours), comedy, magic, participatory and applied theatre practices.
By science we refer to the broad range of natural- and social-science disciplines, including fundamental and applied research. We will not be considering science fiction.
Submission:
Proposal should include:
- title
- an abstract of no longer than 300 words;
- type of presentation (paper, workshop);
- a short biography;
- institutional affiliation (if applicable)
- contact details
- technical requirements (if any);
We plan to publish the papers and other outcomes in a book of collected essays.
The ad-hoc organising/advisory committee is Andy Jordan, Robert Marc Friedman, Alex Mermikides, Paul Johnson, Darren Tunstall.
Closing date for proposals/abstracts is: 20th December, 2013
Proposals/abstracts should be submitted by e-mail (as a Word attachment) to:
conferences@lincoln.ac.uk.
For further information about the conference or the participants, or to receive a booking form, contact Andy Jordan:
ajordan@lincoln.ac.uk
This event is a co-production with The Chimera Network, a research network exploring collaborations and intersections between science and performance.