TaPRA 2018, Aberystwyth, Performance and Science WG: Performance, Science & the Visual

Deadline: Friday 20 April 2018

Call for contributions: Performance and Science Working Group

TaPRA 2018: 5-7 September 2018, University of Aberystwyth

PERFORMANCE, SCIENCE & THE VISUAL

Describing the interrelationship between theatre and science, Liliane Campos suggests that ‘one of the attractions of scientific theory is its potential to redefine, by similarity or contrast, the theatrical gaze’. She draws attention to how theatre and science are both ‘human activities defined by observation’ (p.298).  In keeping with its roots in the Enlightenment period, scientific discovery seeks to bring the world to light, to expose it to view, in order to render it knowable. In so doing, its practitioners push the boundary between the visible and the unseen, often engaging technologies that extend the human gaze beyond its natural limits. In its attempt to render the world visible and knowable, empirical science creates images and models that, like those in performance, hover between presentation and representation. Likewise, the ‘peculiar acts of looking demanded in theatres’ also invite us to look beyond what is materialized so that ‘the visible elements of a theatrical production are… ghosted by ideas, identities, and histories that may evade full representation’ (Johnson p.7). For this year’s TAPRA conference, we explore vision, visions, the (in)visible and visuality as they occur in performance and scientific practices and the thinking around them.  The call, as ever, is broad: you are invited to propose presentations that deal with this theme in a range of contexts. We invite papers and presentations on topics that might include, but are not limited to:

• Visuality, scopic regimes and the gaze in spectating and/or making science-engaged performance
• Alternatives to the ocular: theatre aurality, immersion and the haptic
• Ocular anatomy and the theatre
• Ophthalmic conditions, sciences and practices as explored in theatre and performance
• Visualization, imaging, transparency, revelation and model-making in performance and science
• Aesthetics of the spectacular or of speculation

We will consider proposals for the following formats

• Papers, including those with performative elements (10-20 minutes).
• Low tech workshops, installations or performance (up to 60 minutes).
• Curated panels (usually 3 x 20 min papers)

Please send a short description (up to 300 words) of your proposed contribution, along with technical requirements and a short bio (100 words) by 20 April 2018 to the Working Group Convenors, Gianna Bouchard (g.m.bouchard@bham.ac.uk) and Alex Mermikides (Alex.Mermikides@gsmd.ac.uk). There are ECR bursaries available: http://tapra.org/bursaries/ If you are eligible for a bursary, please indicate that you wish to be considered on your conference proposal. Only one proposal may be submitted for the TaPRA 2018 Conference. It is not permitted to submit multiple proposals or submit the same proposal to several Calls for Papers. All presenters must be TaPRA members, i.e. registered for the conference; this includes presentations given by Skype or other media broadcast even where the presenter may not physically attend the conference venue. Works cited Liliane Campos, ‘Science in Contemporary British Theatre: a Conceptual Approach’ in Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, special issues on New Directions in Theatre and Science Part 1, 2013 Dominic Johnson, Theatre & the Visual. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2012

Please note: only one proposal may be submitted for a TaPRA event. It is not permitted to submit multiple proposals or submit the same proposal to several Calls for Participation. All presenters must be TaPRA members, i.e. registered for the event; this includes presentations given by Skype or other media broadcast even where the presenter may not physically attend the event venue.