Salford symposium: The Human/Body as a "Cultural Actor"

STUDIO MATEJKA: The Human/Body as a ‘Cultural Actor’

A one-day research symposium

1 June 2012; University of Salford, MediaCityUK Campus, Greater Manchester

CALL FOR PAPERS/WORKSHOPS/ FILMS:

Humans and their bodies are central to the cognitive and experiential understanding of culture. Identities are enacted and embodied by humans, making cultures and cultural experiences knowable in concrete and ephemeral ways. Creative products are generated as a result of human action and experienced through sensory and cerebral engagement. In creative practice and societal life, humans and their bodies are the sites and instigators of cultural representation, expression and demarcate individuality, unity or distinction within wider society.

These themes are central to the work of Studio Matejka, a performance laboratory ensemble working at the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland. Over a two-year period, this ensemble of actors, dancers, martial artists, film makers and academics has investigated the expression of the human/body as the central focus in performance practice. Studio Matejka has focused on investigation within its twenty-first century context. However, it also works the lineage of Grotowski: employing the performance laboratory framework, sharing aims to demystify the creative process, and the investigation of performance practice as a mode to connect across social and cultural boundaries.

(See http://matejkastudio.blogspot.co.uk/p/videos.html for a video trailer of Studio Matekja’s work.)

This symposium will explore ways in which humans act, enact, react and interact to evoke, challenge, embrace and facilitate cultural knowing and understanding. This symposium is aimed at practice-led and action researchers across the arts and humanities, using performance research as an initial frame. We especially welcome submissions and attendance from practitioners and early career researchers focused on action research and creative practice.

The symposium will be followed by a work presentation by Studio Matejka and a screening of related short films.

This symposium is part of a week-long UK residency and is supported by the Grotowski Institute, the University of Salford and Arts Council England. It is also a satellite event of the University of Salford’s 2012 SPARC conference (http://www.salford.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research/sparc).

Submitting a Proposal

Please send 250 word (max) proposals/abstracts with brief biography and resource needs to Sarie Mairs Slee(S.M.Slee@salford.ac.uk) and Mary Oliver (M.Oliver@salford.ac.uk) by Monday 21 May at the latest. You will hear back from us within three working days.

There is no delegate fee for this symposium; we invite academics and practitioners from across the arts and humanities to this symposium.

If you are interested in attending the symposium and/or work presentation, please email Sarie Mairs Slee at S.M.Slee@salford.ac.uk for catering and technical purposes by Wednesday 23 May.