International artistic research organizations converge on UCalgary for Symbiont 2018

Performing artists and arts researchers from as far away as Denmark, Iceland, Norway, South Africa, France, Brazil, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States have descended on the University of Calgary this week for an international research symposium hosted by the School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA).

"This is a groundbreaking event that is really putting SCPA and the University of Calgary on the artistic research map internationally," says Dr. Bruce Barton, PhD, director of the SCPA.

The event, dubbed Symbiont 2018, running through to Nov. 17, brings together three prominent artistic research organizations: Performing Arts Relay, hailing from Denmark, Iceland and Norway; Pure Research, from Toronto; and Articulating Artistic Research, an international seminar group run by Barton and Symbiont co-convenor Natalia Esling.

"The idea of symbiosis relates to these three distinct artistic research organizations working together," says Barton. "We have on hand dancers, visual artists, musicians, and people from the theatre, and they'll all be working together in an interdisciplinary way, exploring various topics."

"The key point is that we want to discuss how artistic research can open up the horizons of knowledge. There are certain ways of knowing and exploring that are familiar and traditional within a university context. Scholars who write books and articles and make presentations all produce truly valuable knowledge of a particular kind. We, however, are trying to capture the ways in which artistic research can expand these horizons."

While the labs held on Nov. 12-14 are largely restricted to symposium participants, events held on the 15th and 16th are open to the public. These include a number of PechaKucha presentations, collaborative workshops, a feature performance and two keynote presentations, one on the place of culture in artistic research and the other on the potential in performative critical writing.

"We're exploring multiple topics through an artistic lens," says Barton. "We'll be going into the workshops with a clear set of questions and a framework of how we want to work, but precisely what we produce will emerge through embodied process. This is part of the artistic research orientation."

Symbiont 2018 is made possible by a SSHRC Connection Grant and a Vice-President Research Conference Grant, along with support from the Faculty of Arts and the SCPA Division of Drama.

Read more about Symbiont 2018. See a full schedule of Symbiont 2018 events.