Posted by Interdependent Networks
The 33rd iteration of the Festival of Original Theatre (FOOT33) at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies focuses on the theme “Interdependent Networks.” A network may be defined as a group of interconnected people or things, and this theme prompts participants to consider what networks they are a part of and crucially, how they are interdependent.
The concept of interdependence “strongly links to the field of care ethics” (Thompson 26), to environmental concerns, “the notion of the interconnectedness of all life is central to ecology … all living, human or not, takes place within a relational matrix” (Escobar 12), to economics, “apparent independence or autonomy actually involves multiple forms of interdependency” (Mullen 19), and to decolonizing, “an understanding of complex interdependence, [must] involve a reckoning with our implication in unjust pasts” (Shotwell 24) among countless other uses. To explore it we ask: What networks are you a part of? What does interdependence mean to you? What does it look like in your research/practice?
Through this lens we provide scholars, artists, and other community members an outlet to showcase, critique, review, perform, discuss, and analyze the many networks of interdependence of the world of drama, theatre, and performance. By foregrounding interdependence, we aspire to center the potential of research to make the world a better place and explore that which connects us all.
We invite proposals for panels, paper presentations, and roundtables that address networks and interdependence in the study and practice of performance. Potential topics may include:
- The networks you find yourself a part of, and how they are interdependent
- What interdependence looks like in your practice/research
- Approaches to fostering interdependence in and across diverse communities
- The relationship between your research methods and your research subject
- How research can ‘give back’, and how we can reframe research subjects as research partners
- How performance stages and restages relationships, amongst those human and more-than-human
- The ways drama, theatre and performance studies build networks
“Interdependent Networks” is being planned as an in-person conference from February 6 to 7, 2025. Please submit a proposal (250 words) and biography (100 words per participant) via our online application forms by October 18, 2024.
FOOT has a long-standing tradition of facilitating presentations that experiment with and transgress the typical conventions of academic conferencing. We welcome and encourage proposals that incorporate practice and/or performance to bridge institutional divides between arts and academy. While we cannot provide additional AV or theatre tech support past that which can be expected for a paper presentation, we are open to exploring creative submission ideas. All submitted proposals will be considered for their aim, scope, and feasibility within FOOT33’s mandate.
If there is any way we can make applying more accessible for you or if you have any questions, please contact us at footconference@gmail.com.