Performing Presence: from the live to the simulated

An international conference, Centre for Intermedia, University of Exeter, UK, 26-29 March 2009

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Performing Presence is the culminating conference of the Arts and Humanities funded interdisciplinary research project, Performing Presence: from the live to the simulated (2005-9). The project is tracked at our major website at http://presence.stanford.edu.
The Exeter Centre for Intermedia is a University Supported Research Centre that promotes advanced transdisciplinary research in performance and the arts through collaborations between artists, academics and scientists from a range of disciplines.

Follow this link for our detailed Conference Schedule.

SCOPE OF CONFERENCE AND CONFIRMED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

SCOPE

the presence of a live performer ... the presence of the past ... in a memory ... in ruined remains ... the sense of 'being there' in an online community ... in a VR or mixed reality environment ...
Presence is a fundamental yet highly contested aspect of performance, and performance has come to be a key concept in many different fields. Notions of presence hinge on the relationship between the live and mediated, on notions of immediacy, authenticity and originality. Debates over the nature of the actor's presence have been at the heart of key aspects of theatre practice and theory since the late 1950s and are a vital part of the discourses surrounding avant-garde and postmodern performance. The advent of new media forms, and the increasing integration of contemporary performance and media, has generated new engagements, practices and understandings of presence in performance.
Archaeology is increasingly understood less as the discovery of the past and more in terms of different relationships with what is left of the past. This foregrounds anthropological questions of the performance and construction of the past in memory, narrative, collections (of textual and material sources), archives and systems of documentation, in experiences of place.
In Computer Science, "presence" is a key concept and goal in the construction of Virtual Environments: complex interactive projections that simulate three-dimensional environments and which may include representations of humans (avatars).
Performing Presence: from the live to the simulated will be an international and interdisciplinary forum for the exploration of how exchanges of practices, concepts and methodologies between art, performance and new media practitioners, between academic disciplines and between live, mediated and simulated performance may deepen an understanding of the performance of presence.

CONFIRMED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS*:

• Matt Adams, Blast Theory http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/
• Adrian Heathfield, Professor of Performance ands Visual Culture, Roehampton University http://www.adrianheathfield.com/ and Hugo Glendinning, photographer, AHRC Fellow in the Creative and Performing Arts, Centre for Intermedia, University of Exeter http://www.hugoglendinning.com/, with recorded material by Tim Etchells of Forced Entertainment
• Lynn Hershman-Leeson, contributing through a Second Life event, media artist, Chair, Film Department, S.F. Art Institute, A.D. White professor, Cornell University, Emeritus Professor, University of California, Davis. http://www.lynnhershman.com/
• Ken Goldberg, artist, Professor, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR), UC Berkeley and Director, Berkeley Centre for New Media http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/index-flash.html
• Mike Pearson, Professor of Performance Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth http://www.aber.ac.uk/~psswww/shared/general/pearson.htm and Mike Brookes, artist http://www.mikebrookes.com/
• Paul Sermon, media artist, Professor of Creative Technology, University of Salford http://www.paulsermon.org/
• Michael Shanks, archaeologist, The Omar and Althea Hoskins Professor of Classical Archaeology, Stanford University http://www.stanford.edu/~mshanks/
• Moe Angelos, The Builders Association http://www.thebuildersassociation.org/

Keynote presentations will include papers, performative events, performance, as well as real/second life forums.

*Please note all keynotes may be subject to change.

Performing Presence will engage with a wide range of disciplines, art and performance practices, technologies of presence, theory and modes and practices of documentation. Key questions include:

• What are the chief signifiers of presence?
• How is presence achieved through theatrical performance?
• What makes a memory come alive and live again?
• How are practices of presence connected with senses of self and identity?
• Is presence synonymous with 'being in the moment'?
• What is the nature of the ‘co-presence’ of audience and performer?
• Does presence imply distance?
• Where does performance practice end and its documentation begin?
• In what tense does documentation take place?
• Can technology produce presence?
• Is presence a form of immersion?
• Is documentation theory or practice?
• What happens when documentation becomes time-based and ephemeral?
• Where does practice end and its documentation begin?
• In what tense does documentation take place?

A limited number of places remain open for the conference until 13th February 2009.
Registration fee: £160/£100 (concessions), including all conference events, excluding accommodation.
Please follow this link for a conference registration form

Performing Presence is managed by Nick Kaye and Gabriella Giannachi of the department of Drama at University of Exeter, the archaeologist Michael Shanks at Stanford University, and Mel Slater, Professor of Virtual Environments at University College, London, and is in receipt of substantial funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

For any enquiries regarding the conference, proposals or registration please contact Linda Dowsett, Performing Presence Conference Administrator, Department of Drama, Thornlea, New North Road, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4LA, UK.
E-mail: l.m.dowsett@exeter.ac.uk. Telephone : +44 (0)1392 262332.

"Performing Presence: from the live to the simulated" is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

Each year the AHRC provides funding from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from archaeology and English literature to design and dance. Only applications of the highest quality and excellence are funded and the range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK. For further information on the AHRC, please see our website www.ahrc.ac.uk