Things might have to get worse before they get better
During multiple artist residencies in 2022, Jamie and Elien will explore ecological resilience in the process of making performance. In pursuing this aim, we start from the premise that things might have to get worse before they get better, embracing decay or decomposition of known structures in order for new possibilities to emerge. Our ecological approach is based on the notion that we work in complex, interconnected systems that are both material and ideological.
In this collaboration, Jamie and Elien want to interrogate the differences in our research interests. Elien’s work is inspired by empathy in performance, while Jamie focuses on linking affect with critical reflexivity in play. We have found great value in the clash of our differing perspectives and want to further cultivate this clash as a form of mutual care. This notion of care need not be understood as something soft and gentle, but rather something that is both destructive and generative, colliding our perspectives to produce a more diverse creative ecology.
Things might have to get worse before they get better, but we want to embrace that struggle in the hope that we will become stronger, more resilient, with a broader capacity to adapt our practices to the challenges of an uncertain future.
In this collaboration, Jamie and Elien want to interrogate the differences in our research interests. Elien’s work is inspired by empathy in performance, while Jamie focuses on linking affect with critical reflexivity in play. We have found great value in the clash of our differing perspectives and want to further cultivate this clash as a form of mutual care. This notion of care need not be understood as something soft and gentle, but rather something that is both destructive and generative, colliding our perspectives to produce a more diverse creative ecology.
Things might have to get worse before they get better, but we want to embrace that struggle in the hope that we will become stronger, more resilient, with a broader capacity to adapt our practices to the challenges of an uncertain future.
Upcoming & recent
- 2022 - upcoming:
January - May - Natural Contact Lab collaboration: Walking with the River, Walking as repair.
January - September - ongoing residency with The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre in Hampshire, England.
5 - 8 April - Workshops at the International Opera Academy.
5 & 6 May - Love Musik, Vlaamse Opera & IOA production - Minard Gent.
June - Green Gold, a role-playing board game about climate change and land use, commissioned by Fern.
- 2022 - recent:
20 -25 March - Writing Retreat True North, Shepherd's Dene, Northumbria.
21 March - Publication in The Drama Review: Interrupting Immersive Immediacy: Pursuing Reflexive Hypermediacy in the Play of Participatory Performance.
14 - 18 March - Workshops at the International Opera Academy.
5 March - story-telling at Picturale.
- 2021 - recent:
11 December - Two to Tango Audience award.
3 December - Premiere Two to Tango: Kortfilmfestival Leuven.
20 October - 11 December - Ashes to Ashes Belgium tour Collage productions.
2 & 9 November - Workshops University of Malta.
25 October - 8 November - Residency Greece, Cloud Lab The Hague.
27 October - Publication in the journal of applied theatre and performance, Taylor & Francis: Learning to play with memory.
15 October - Guest speaker at the Playable Theatre symposion, hosted by Indiecade.
7 - 28 October - Wild Ways Residency.
6 - 30 September - Student Project drama Queen's University Belfast.
5 - 7 September - Conference Presentation at Digital Matters hosted by Humboldt University, Berlin.
27 August - Publication of research article in Well Played: a Journal on Video Games, Value and Meaning: From Excavation to Reconfiguration.
14 July - Conference presentation at IFTR.
7 - 29 July - Shoot Two to Tango.
25 June - 4 July - Performances of The tale of the Last Thought / Het sprookje van de laatste gedachte. CC Ronse, gemeente Maarkedal.
3 June - Conference Presentation at Critical Theatre Ecologies, hosted by the University of Ausburg.
19 & 20 May - Love Musik, Vlaamse Opera & IOA production - Minard Gent, Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen.
19 April - 14 May - Workshops at the International Opera Academy.
29 March - 7 April - Workshops at Queen's University Belfast.
21 - 29 January - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, KVS Brussels.
