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Studio for Electronic Theatre (SET) is a group of researchers examining the relationship between technological advance and creative practice. They examine how technology can change the nature of performance environments in specific spaces and address social and political issues in distinct places. Specific performances have:
Additionally, the work being carried out engages directly with non HEI partners and has resulted in members of the group being invited to communicate with a range of interested partners beyond the academy: Greenwich Theatre, Albany Deptford, Kids Company.
Performance Research is an independent journal/book series championing artistic-led research at the interface between the academy and the profession. Published by Routledge for ARC a division of the Centre for Performance Research (CPR)[1]. Founded as a cultural and publishing partnership (1995) with Dartington it has developed an identity and frame of intellectual/artistic reference distinct from CPR, forging many developments with partners outwith the academy. CPR's relocation to Falmouth enables both to extend this relationship. PR provides print and on-line platforms for practitioners, arts organisations and researchers. Interdisciplinary in vision, international in scope; it emphasises contemporary performance arts within changing cultures.
This work impacted on children between the ages of 8 and 14. Since 2011 over 90 children living in Northern Ireland have benefitted from day-long workshops, taking place at the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen's University Belfast (SARC). The program has been running annually since 2011. The children have benefitted in exploring digital sound technologies, learning to understand ways in which these shape and influence ways of listening to music and our environment. The children acted as content designers in the area of digital sound technologies. The impact is centred on empowering children to design content using technologies, such as iOS and sound diffusion.
Kafka's Wound', a response to Kafka's short story `A Country Doctor' (1919), was created as part of the `Re-imagining the Literary Essay for the Digital Age' (RILEDA) project. The essay is available at www.thespace.lrb.co.uk.
Commissioned from the London Review of Books (LRB), an independent literary publisher, RILEDA was supported by £45k from ACE who invested £3.5m in 51 commissions. The work was `located' in the Space, an experimental digital arts service, itself a major project within Arts Council England's creative media policy and its Public Value Partnership with the BBC.
Headed by Will Self, novelist and professor of contemporary thought at Brunel University, RILEDA involved over 70 collaborators drawn from the School of Arts and many other departments (especially Computing, Engineering and Design) in a collaborative, interdisciplinary, practice- based, research project. Institutional contributors included the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the Imperial War Museum, and the National Centre for Jewish Film. The research was carried out between March and July 2012 and the essay was `published' in August 2012.
Highly innovative and of high artistic quality, RILEDA has impacted diverse audiences worldwide, evolving the multi-media digital literary essay while encouraging innovative approaches to digital arts and supporting the case for future public digital arts services. It raises important issues about the nature of authorship, collaboration, and co-design in digital forms which frame broader questions about the nature of creativity, intellectual property rights, and the processes and experience of reading.
The high artistic quality and innovative user interface engaged a significant worldwide audience with 49,208 visits in 12 months, 57% from outside the UK.
John Butt's research has played a leading role in bringing historically informed music performance to professional and public audiences across the world. His recording of Messiah (2006) achieved critical acclaim and was presented with the Classic FM/Gramophone Baroque Vocal Album and the Marché International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale Award. The recording also achieved commercial success for independent record producer, Linn Records with sales of over 20,000, and had a significant impact on Scotland's leading baroque ensemble, the Dunedin Consort, with seven more recordings of works by Bach and Handel, substantial royalty income, increased funding (including new subsidies) and new touring opportunities. This success has also enabled an active education outreach programme to develop both professional training and broader public interest.
This case study documents the initial impacts of a site-specific theatre project: Fortnight that was conceived and developed by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) contemporary artist Peter Petralia between 2010 and 2012. The project exemplifies research that seeks to explore engagement with place, locality and community using pervasive digital technologies, and utilises these methods to enhance the creative potential of individuals and organizations. Fortnight's impact is social, cultural and economic as documented by the 800 participants and producers involved in the project so far. Fortnight has also generated impact within the creative industries through the innovative application of its use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. To date Fortnight has been curated and hosted in Lancaster and Bristol (2011), Manchester (2012) and Oxford (2013).
Departmental staff Mike Pearson, Mike Brookes and Simon Banham conceived, designed and directed theatre productions of Aeschylus's The Persians (2010) for NTW's launch season and Coriolan/us for NTW in the World Shakespeare Festival/London 2012 at sites outside the auditorium.
The impacts of these productions are upon:
1) Cultural life — in generating new forms of artistic expression, delivering innovative performance products, and enriching public appreciation, understanding and imagination;
2) Policy and practice — in enhancing the status of NTW, informing and influencing programming and demonstrating that work of international standard can be produced regionally;
3) Professional practice — in pioneering and contributing original ideas, methods and approaches.
The University of Southampton's Dr Laurie Stras co-directs the ensemble Musica Secreta and its amateur choir, Celestial Sirens. Stras's research informs their performances, specialising in music associated with women in Renaissance courts and convents. Through her collaboration with author Sarah Dunant, Stras's activities have had an international impact on artists and non-academic audiences. Perceptions of women in Renaissance musical culture have been profoundly changed for a broad constituency, and the performance practice of early music groups (professional and amateur) has altered as a result of Stras's work. Amateur choir members and workshop participants express long-term personal benefits ranging from intellectual satisfaction to positive feelings related to community and wellbeing.
Practice-led performance research at Oxford fosters dynamic, interactive relationships between academics and professional ensembles that are of huge cultural and economic impact to a wide variety of beneficiary groups. This case study presents two internationally recognised research-led groups - Phantasm and the Choir of New College, Oxford - whose work offers strong examples of social and cultural impact, including: a significant contribution to public understanding of English and European musical and cultural heritage; increased public access to previously inaccessible repertories; contribution to the local economy and tourism industry in Oxford; and the provision of unique educative opportunities for instrumentalists and singers.
Since 2005, Dr Quick has created a series of practice-as-research projects and educational workshops to increase understanding of how new media-based performance is created and understood. Key beneficiaries have been young people, teachers, theatre practitioners, mixed media artists, and cultural organisations. Five new works have impacted through the introduction of innovative practice performance to new audiences, nationally and internationally (including central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Brazil and Taiwan); pioneering new uses of digital technology as creative practice, and sharing such innovation with both established and new theatres and groups.