Performance Management: Panel Discussion

In his latest book In Praise of Theatre Alain Badiou writes “the theatre attempts to make a previously unseen possibility emerge.^". For him, there is a precariousness about theatre, which not only responds to our present crisis in global capitalism, but which, through its provocation, enables the spectator to orientate him or herself in the present day. So it is that the mechanisms of theatre—its language, its arrangement of spectators and stage—have increasingly become the site for experimentation and radical performance that spans across the arts. There is something about the ability of theatre to enable the unexpected—a newness—that makes it an exciting ground on which to stage inventions, even interventions.

In the event, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd will introduce some of her recent work and her engagement with Wimbledon College of Arts students where she is Practitioner in Residence. This will be followed by a panel discussion in which Marvin will discuss the dynamics of power and authorial control within her work, and its theatrical influences, in dialogue with Nicholas Ridout, Sarah McCrory and Lois Rowe. The concept of ‘Performance Management’ will be used as a trope within the discussion to raise questions around the social and institutional structures and constraints that influence improvised performance work today.

Nicholas Ridout, Professor of Theatre at Queen Mary University of London, has written extensively on political and social understandings of theatrical events. His work considers theatre not just as a mode of cultural production, but also as an affective experience and mode of social organization. His published books include Stage Fright, Animals and Other Theatrical Problems (2006), Theatre and Ethics (2009) and Passionate Amateurs: Theatre, Communism and Love (2013) 

Sarah McCrory is a Curator and Director of Glasgow International and was Curator of the Frieze Foundation. She is known for supporting emerging artists and is often referred to as one of the most powerful woman in the art world.

Marvin Gaye Chetwynd is a visual artist who is best known for her improvised re-workings of iconic moments from cultural history. She was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2012 and her work is held in numerous significant collections including the British Council Collection, Tate Collection and Saatchi Gallery.

Lois Rowe is an artist and writer who is Programme Director at Wimbledon College of Arts.

This event is part of CCW Graduate School’s public programme, and will launch Acts Re-Acts 3, a month long series exploring performance and new media, with workshops, discussions, events, interventions, seminars and installations which take place at Wimbledon Space between 22 February and 18 March, 2016.