CKP began the academic year with a highly successful symposium: Affective Science and Performance, 5/6 September, attended by 35 delegates from Europe and the USA. Commencing with Bruce McConachie’s keynote on ‘the survival of performance studies in the 21st century’ the theme of cognitive futures continued with the launch of Nicola Shaughnessy’s new book: ‘Applying Performance: Live Art, Socially Engaged Theatre and Affective Practice.’
A practical demonstration followed in the Gulbenkian Theatre where practitioners from the Imagining Autism project (www.imaginingautism.org) demonstrated one of the interactive installations.
Visitors were taken in groups to experience the multi sensory forest, meeting Dennis the woodpecker puppet and the famous Foxy ( the face of the University poster campaign, promoting Kent’s research as ‘Making a Difference.’) The research team and practitioners joined the audience in the Gulbenkian afterwards for a Q&A.
The symposium continued on the Saturday with three panels (‘Touching Texts’, ‘The Kinesthetic Actor’ and “Affecting the Audience’) as well as a Roundtable discussion between practitioners, performance scholars and neuroscientists. It concluded with Professor Rhonda Blair’s keynote on Bodies.
CKP were hosting Rhonda as a visiting scholar. She participated in seminars, ran tutorials with postgraduate students and visited the Imagining Autism project for its introductory session at the Helen Allison School in Meopham before concluding her trip with the Roundtable, curated and chaired by Professor Nicola Shaughnessy and held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on Wednesday September 12.
This was a huge success with 51 audience members ensuring the studio reached full house capacity. Speakers joining Rhonda included Anna Furse who spoke about her collaboration with her Royal Ballet colleague Esther Linley, video artist Lucy Cash, sound artist Graeme Miller, and Cambridge Professor of Neuroscience, Nicola Clayton. Arti Paresh from Spare Tyre Theatre spoke about her company’s work with dementia and representatives from Kent’s Imagining Autism project, Dr Julie Beadle-Brown and Dr Melissa Trimingham, discussed their interdisciplinary collaboration. Dr Matthew Reason spoke about his collaboration with neuroscientists on the AHRC’s Watching Dance project. Several of the papers from these events will feature in Nicola Shaughnessy’s edited collection: Affective Performance and Cognitive Science: Body, Brain and Being’ (Methuen, 2013). CKP is grateful for the support from the Faculty’s Research grants scheme for these events.
On October 15, Dr Paul Sutton from C&T Theatre Company visited us. Paul ran a workshop with Imagining Autism’s “Training the Trainers” programme and did a fascinating presentation on interactive digital media and kinesthetic pedagogies http://www.candt.org). The research seminar programme continues with Robert Shaughnessy’s ‘In Time with Shakespeare’ on Friday November 16 (5pm) and concludes with a collaboration between the Cambridge Neuroscientist Nicky Clayton and Clive Wilkins: 'Imagination: The Door to Identity.”
In November, Nicki Shaughnessy and Melissa Trimingham are visiting the Centre for Embodied Cognition at Stony Brook University, New York. They have been invited to talk about the Centre and will be discussing potential connections and collaborations.
Finally, the practical phase of Imagining Autism concludes with an open evening at the Helen Allison School in Meopham. See Imagining Autism for details.