cfp.english.upenn.edu

1st Global Conference
Performance: Visual Aspects of Performance Practice

Thursday 11th November – Saturday 13th November 2010
Prague, Czech Republic

Call for Papers
Theatre is an inter-disciplinary form of art in itself, drawing ideas and symbolisms from the fields of humanities, making historical references and links, presenting social relations, putting forward great ideas and dilemmas of the mind, highlighting aspects of the human personality and employing all existing art-forms in order to create a performance as a whole. Performance practice can be examined from the artistic point of view, but also from a cultural, a sociological, a historical, a psychological, a semiological, an anthropological, as well as from an educational perspective. The term “performance practice” refers to the interface within which the work of the director, actor, movement director and choreographer, scenographer (set and costume designer), musical director, composer, lighting designer and sound designer meet. It also includes all aspects and issues involving the theatrical process, from the initial concept to the final realization.

The aim of this conference is to develop discussion with a focus on the visual aspects of performance brought up by visual and spatial artists and researchers in various performance disciplines and practices.

Papers, workshops, presentations and pre-formed panels are invited on any of the following themes:

- Visual interpretation of text / of narrative
- The birth of a visual concept
- Visual literacy and visual perception in performance
- Aesthetics and visual principles in performance
- Visual expression and symbolism in theatre
- The notion of the visual metaphor
- Scenographer: The author of space?
- Design as theatrical action
- Visual resources and interpretation in theatre
- Scenographic materials, form, texture, composition and light
- From design to realization – the process for the creation of a visual environment
- Collaboration and practice in the visual aspect of performance making
- Actor-character: Dressing the actor, dressing the body
- Body and space: The spatial dynamics of costume
- The performativity of costume / The narrative of dress in performance
- Costume sociology
- History of scenography
- Leading figures in the world tradition of scenography
- Performance and politics – visual approaches
- Designing theatre for children
- Teaching the visual aspects of performance practice
- Media and new technology as performance visual elements
- New approaches in performance design

Papers will also be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 28th May 2010. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 24th September 2010.

300 word abstracts should be submitted to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats, following this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
E-mails should be entitled: Performance Abstract Submission

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs:

* Sofia Pantouvaki
Scenographer, and Department of Theatre Studies,
University of Peloponnese
Greece
E-mail: sofsceno@gmail.com
.
* Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Leader, Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire,
United Kingdom
E-mail: perform@inter-disciplinary.net

The conference is part of the Critical Issues programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s).

For further details about the project please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/ethos/performance/

For further details about the conference please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/ethos/performance/call...