Connecting Communities: International Conference, 11 Nov
07th November 2017
On Saturday 11 November, performingborders has been invited to Connecting Communities International Conference. Alessandra Cianetti will present the research-platform shortly before introducing ‘A Short Table on Live Art | Crossings | Europe’.
A Short Table on Live Art | Crossings | Europe is a participatory conversation where the public is actively invited to contribute to the discussion on the ever-changing notion of borders within contemporary Europe and how live artists are responding to this shifting reality.
The Long Table (short in this case!) model has been devised by performer Lois Weaver as an open source format to trigger conversations on broad, political issues combining theatricality and models for public engagement: ‘The Long Table is a dinner party structured by etiquette, where conversation is the only course. […] The components are simple: the long table; chairs; a paper tablecloth; pens with which to make comments, to draw, or to scribble ideas. The final, and necessary, component is an etiquette sheet. This list of rules for engagement lays the groundwork for talk that is structured in its participatory aspect without being limited in content or access’ (Lois Weaver).
The Short Table on Live Art | Crossings | Europe as part of Connecting Communities International Conference, invites the participants to speak, draw, write, engage with understandings of movement across borders, contemporary Europe and the role that live artists and performers have and/or should have within the discussion. Using as starting point questions raised by performingborders interviewees’ interventions and approaches to both the notion of borders and role of the performer, this activity aims at playfully and openly inviting participants to share ideas, projects and strategies on live art, borders, and activism.
The Short Table will be preceded by a brief introduction about the performingborders research platform that since 2016 has been publishing monthly interviews with performers, academics and arts professionals, organising events, and delivering writing commissions on the topic of borders and live art.
About Connecting Communities
The University of Greenwich in collaboration with Open University and the University of York are pleased to host an international multidisciplinary conference looking at how participatory and creative research methods create a space for exploring, sharing and documenting processes of belonging and place-making that is crucial to understanding migration, citizenship and belonging.
A two-day event arising from the Participatory Arts and Social Action Research (PASAR), a two-year research project, will bring together academics from a range of social science, humanities and arts disciplines including sociology, social policy and applied theatre, alongside policymakers, artists and practitioners (including in migration, families, arts and performance) to exchange knowledge on related fields of research and the use of participatory arts methodologies to explore broader sociological and policy issues.
While the topic of migration and migrant families is key to this research project, there will also be contributions on related issues of engaging marginalized groups in research, arts and social action. The conference will include a blend of keynote talks, artistic and practice based workshops and panels from academics, practitioners and policymakers.
Full programme downloadable here
