Performance Philosophy Problems 2022: Conference Update
After a postponement by one year, the 5th Performance Philosophy Biennial will be re-organized in Helsinki on 15–18 June 2022.
Our times have generated problems, the scope, depth, complexity and ubiquity of which are surpassing traditional procedures for solving them. As the problems we face change in nature so too must our ways of dealing with them. One obvious change concerns modes of organisation: global problems require new modes of collaboration, transversal combinations and inclusiveness, enabling all kinds of agents from different fields to unite their experiences and efforts. At the same time, existing organisations are compelled to rethink their reasons for existence, their values and ways of functioning. Performance Philosophy is not immune to this challenge.
Performance Philosophy Problems 2022 (PPP 2022) asks: what kinds of problems does working in the field of performance philosophy lead us to encounter and to articulate, and what tools does it provide to deal with them? The conference invites its participants – artists, philosophers, scholars, artist-researchers and performance philosophers, regardless of their particular genre, school or discipline – to articulate the range of performance philosophy problems whose treatment calls for dialogue and collaboration between philosophy and the performing arts.
The full vision statement can be read on the Performance Philosophy network’s website.
A new organisational model: key groups in a key role
The thematic focus the conference is matched by its strategic aim: to develop non-hierarchical interaction and self-organisation between participants and to increase inclusiveness. This is why, in addition to individual and panel presentations, the conference is introducing a new organisational model in which the habitual ‘keynote speakers’ will be replaced by collective agencies, key groups (KGs).
The KGs will be created around a common problem. Each group may consist of artists, scholars, researchers, educators and other experts from within or outside academia. Already existing working groups, including those from other associations, are welcome to apply. The conference will facilitate the functioning of the KGs through a range of practical, financial, direct and in-kind support. In return, the KGs are expected to commit to working before, during and after the conference.
How do we work?
In addition to the problems articulated and addressed in the various KGs, the groups provide an occasion for, and a frame in which, every participant of the conference can quite practically observe, and thereby think about, how performance philosophy collaborates. Performance Philosophy, as a hybrid from inception, favours alternative and/or collaborative models of working and communication wherein people with different kinds of experience, background and expertise meet and unite their efforts on an equal basis to face problems with both philosophical and artistic bearing. Through the KGs, the conference itself wants to provide its participants with an occasion to witness actual research in the making in a critical and supportive collective setting. In this regard, the event is strongly inspired by the long-term commitment of art academies in Finland to the development of artistic research.
Besides the KG sessions, that gather together all the participants, the conference comprises series of parallel panel sessions including individual paper presentations, no-paper presentations, lecture demonstrations, lecture performances, workshops and performative interventions.
A conference that strives towards inclusion
PPP 2022 seeks to pay particular attention to different aspects of access and accessibility. We understand access in a broad sense, here meaning the wide range of needs that people have in order to take part in an event, including economic needs. The conference has secured technical and financial resources to meet as many of the accessibility needs of its contributors as possible.
The PP Bursary for BIPOC artists and scholars: A £1000 award
Performance philosophy network has decided to award the full £1000 bursary to Monica Silva. An additional funding for fee waivers is granted to Autumn Ahn. Ricardo Sarmieto and Abhay Ghiara. Congratuations for everyone, and thank you for all applicants!
Venue
The conference will take place in the facilities of the Theatre Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
Evenings
In June, the nights in Helsinki are luminous and charming. Every night during the conference there will be social events, Performance Philosophy Parties, involving local artists and activists in informal and inspiring settings, where everyone can come together.