Module dramaturgique Danae Theodoridou

Public Space Dramaturgy 

In this workshop, dramaturgy will be treated as the (political) practice of ‘working on actions’ (Georgelou, Protopapa, Theodoridou, 2017) that relates closely to the sociopolitical environments wherein our work is taking place. In its frame, we will explore dramaturgies able to (re)construct public space but also ‘public time’ (Castoriadis, 1997) through performance. 

Performance theorist Rebecca Schneider, defines politics as a primarily performative practice, closely related to the forms that the body takes in front of others in public space. As she writes, politics is the act of “appearing to others as others appear [to me]”. Such understanding denotes the fundamental relationship between performance and politics. Drawing on Schneider’s ideas, particular focus of the workshop will be the visual forms of the ‘public body’ and the relation between dramaturgy, audience participation and political emancipation. If indeed, performance today should operate as an act of ‘public_ing’ (Theodoridou, 2022), namely as a frame for constructing publicness anew providing alternatives to capitalism, how could we -as makers and/or dramaturgs- use and position the body in public contexts, in order to achieve such aim? How might such embodied positioning contribute to the empowerment of democratic exchange; And how can public spaces be returned to citizens through such practices?

Through sharing and experimenting with concrete examples, tasks and processes we will examine forms and operations of the ‘public body’, as well as the conditions under which art can create communities able to question established social configurations and power relations. Moving beyond divisions between theory and practice, the dramaturgical here will be approached through specific principles of work, as they arise from within enquiry-led artistic processes of questioning, speaking, writing, reading and debating. Participants will be asked to either bring in the workshop specific projects they are working on, and/or design prototypes for possible interventions that could create public space. 

Danae Theodoridou is a performance maker and researcher based in Brussels. She completed her practice-led PhD on contemporary dramaturgy in Roehampton University in London (2013). Her artistic research focuses on social imaginaries, the practice of democracy and the way that art contributes to the emergence of socio-political alternatives. She teaches in Fontys Academy of the Arts (NL), curates practice-led research projects, and presents and publishes her work internationally. She is the co-author of The Practice of Dramaturgy: Working on Actions in Performance (Valiz, 2017) and the author of PUBLICING: Practising Democracy Through Performance (Nissos, 2022).  www.danaetheodoridou.com