Call for Participation: Performance Matters 9.1: Performing Practice-Based Research

2021-12-21

Call for Participation

Performing Practice-Based Research (PBR)

This special issue of Performance Matters (9.1) asks: what is the performative force of practice-based research (PBR)? What exactly is produced when universal design principles are explored through music, when intergenerational trauma is examined through dance, or when performance art is used to probe the effects of climate change?  Whether it is termed practice-based or practice-led research, practice-as-research, research-creation, or simply artistic research, the underlying proposition of the various methodologies we here call PBR is that creative practices may be used to seek out knowledge while also challenging the epistemological assumptions that produce the concept “research.” Creative practices such as music, dance, theatre, performance and visual art, creative media and writing are situated through PBR as both artistic processes/products and as the ground for (and critique of conventional understandings of) experimentation, analysis, and discovery. Although scholars and artists have worked to define PBR, articulate its pedagogies, design and defend graduate programs, and outline its philosophies, PBR remains poorly understood and unevenly supported in the academy. How does PBR productively articulate with other processual and collaborative methodologies? Who has agency within PBR and what constraints does it operate under? How can PBR methodologies help us to reimagine and reinvigorate scholarly and artistic enquiry?

 

This special issue builds on a two-day international summit on PBR held online in summer 2021. Thirty-six artist/scholars held a series of thematic conversations exploring the opportunities, challenges, and exciting uncharted territory of PBR through four broad themes: knowledge, power, ethics, and affect. We invite artist/scholars working with PBR to expand on these themes or introduce new ones through artistic media and writing. We invite the submission of essays (7,000-9,000 words), podcasts or other audio contributions (via links to a streaming service such as SoundCloud), video (via embeddable links to Vimeo or YouTube), photo essays or research documentation, scores, interviews, artistic works (with or without critical commentary), or other forms.

Timeline for submissions Interested contributors are asked to send 300-word proposals to issue editors Peter Dickinson (peter_dickinson@sfu.ca) and Ellen Waterman (ellen.waterman@carleton.ca) by February 15, 2022. In addition to outlining the substance of the proposed contribution, please also indicate its anticipated form, and any other relevant information.

Authors invited to submit full contributions will be notified by March 15, 2022, with final submissions due June 30, 2022. This special issue is expected to be published in early 2023.