www.adu.hr
International Transdisciplinary Conference
Performance in Higher Education and Beyond: Rethinking Norms
Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb, Croatia
30 January (from 18:00)
–
2 February 2025 (till 14:00)
As institutions of higher education, Theatre Academies, Acting Schools and Drama, Performance, Dance, Film and Theatre Departments are primarily focused on teaching and artistic production. However, this inherently involves the establishment and reproduction (or failure to do so) of normative criteria for theoretical reasoning, artistic practices, and pedagogy. With this in mind, we seek to explore how normalized and normalizing practices and behaviours, affective phenomena, and their corresponding modes of affectivity, emotional regimes, and positionings related to identity, trans-individuality, inclusivity, and diversity are produced and perpetuated (or not) via institutions of higher education but also other institutions such as city and state theatres and other cultural centres, independent artistic and cultural organizations, networked publics and social media.
CONFERENCE
We view these institutions of higher education as distinct social “ecosystems,” yet also as integral components of broader networks comprised of diverse actors, organizations, collectives, and individuals. These participants, though often emerging from different, and at times opposing, methodological and artistic perspectives, engage in continuous artistic and social interaction. In doing so, they form and dissolve both temporary and enduring communities. These dynamic ecosystems cultivate environments where diverse approaches and viewpoints coexist—sometimes harmoniously, sometimes in conflict (and everything in-between)—thereby contributing to the ongoing transformation (or stagnation) of both artistic and academic discourse.
We invite proposals that examine how performances operate within their ecosystems today, bearing in mind a broadened concept of performance as not only a theatrical or artistic act but also a wider social practice embedded in higher-education, everyday life, digital spaces, and different realms of civil society.
Close to 25 years ago, Jon McKenzie in his “Perform or else” (2001) highlighted the intricate interconnectedness between managerial paradigms and artistic practices. Today we can see the extending of the paradigm even further, in the mundane field of everyday communication, but also in the very processes of our subjects’ formation in artistic fields. Bojana Kunst (2015) stressed the significance of the neoliberal paradigm for the artists’ self-understanding. The production of subjectivities in the art sphere, heavily influenced by neoliberal paradigm, puts significant weight on individualism, entrepreneurship and extreme flexibility, which in turn hinders serious and dedicated work on art productions.
Moreover, such principles structure the logic of universities’ management, thus significantly favouring models from the STEM field, which then produces serious damage to already underfunded arts and humanities (as elaborated in Nussbaum, 2010). Having this in mind, we put forward the question from the title: do we even know what is going on? We clearly witness rapid and sometimes irreversible transformations of higher education, but can we recognize, and then cope with their structural consequences? What kind of pedagogical apparatus do we use to meet the ever-emerging new challenges (such as the prevalence of Youtube tutorials as opposed to learning from books or papers)?
Drawing on theoretical frameworks from performance studies, affect theory, particularly Ahmed’s theory of affective economies (2004), critical pedagogy and sociocultural studies, this conference seeks to foster interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary dialogue on how performances interact with the ecosystems that shape them and, in turn, how they influence societal structures, institutions and norms that regulate their functioning – or how they fail to do so. Moreover,drawing on Lennard Davis’ work on disability studies and the social construction of normalcy (2013), we wish to interrogate how performances reinforce, maintain, complicate or disrupt normative standards related to gender, race, class, sexuality, and ability, challenging thus deeply entrenched ableism present in artistic pedagogies, while moving beyond the rhetoric of inclusion in the attempt to truly rethink how we define success, participation and access (Dolmage 2017).
We invite theoretical contributions, artistic interventions and auto-poetic investigations, as well as case studies related to the suggested issues. We also encourage candidates to find ways of resisting the urge to be hyper productive as a measure of academic legitimacy.
We invite scholars and artists, both affiliated and independent, to submit an abstract (300 words), a biographical note (150 words), and a visual contribution relating to the abstract (a photograph, drawing, or similar) to Goran Pavlić at gpavlic@adu.hr and Una Bauer at una@adu.hr by 30 November 2024.
Selected participants may also be invited to publish their contributions in an edited collection.
Deadline for proposals: 30 November 2024.
Presenters will be notified of acceptance by 7 December 2024.
Conference is in-person only.
Conference registration fee is 30 euros for affiliated participants, while there is no fee for independent participants.
www.adu.hr