This year’s edition of EASTAP is organised by the Institute of the Arts of Barcelona and it will take place in Sitges from October 28 to November 1st. The core objective of the conference is to open our approaches of environmental stakes in theatre and performance.
« In the field of theatre and performing arts, particular emphasis has been placed on the term “ecology”, which covers only one specific aspect of the broader concept of an “ecosystem”.»
« We aim to make productive the terminological shift of the concept of ‘ecology’ to ‘ecosystems’ within the realm of theatre and performance. “Ecosystems of Theatre and Performance” invites proposals that explore the scientific-environmental, figurative, and economical dimensions of these dynamic artistic systems. »
The choice to use the notion of “ecosystem” instead of “ecology” pushes towards a new way of thinking about these environmental matters, that would be wider and all-embracing: scientific, aesthetic and socio-economic. During this conference, scholars, artists and students will be reunited in order to share different perspectives, to gather the current works and thoughts from various backgrounds. Thus, the different panels will also address topics such as colonisation, ongoing wars, queer studies, and other issues that, at first, seem to be distant from environmental causes, as we can see through Ewa Bal’s intervention (“Queering war in collective theatre practices in the face of the Russian attack on Ukraine”, on the 31th of October). Ecology as we are used know is also covered in panels such as “Climate change stories on stage. A crisis of imagination” by Rossella Menna, but it is not limited to the need for a greener world: that’s why the word “ecosystem” is privileged. It puts forwards the notion of community, and the intersections with other social combats.
This broad concept of “ecosystem” is the starting point for our experience as the micro-ecosystem of the Observatoire critique, a group of people from all over the world, with a big diversity of backgrounds and artistic practices that creates a mixture of viewpoints. The observatoire 2024 is seventeen people made up of fourteen different nationalities. We are the largest and most diverse group of artists and scholars to date. Our ecosystem brings perspectives from performance, theory, writing, puppetry, fine art, scenography, poetry, directing, dramaturgy, devising, music, dance, artificial intelligence, circus. Our function is to archive the conference digitally and physically as it happens.
Critical Observatory Ecosystem
The Observatory 2024 is made up of seventeen people of fourteen different nationalities. We are the largest and most diverse group of artists and scholars to date. Our ecosystem brings perspectives from performance, theory, writing, puppetry, fine art, scenography, poetry, directing, dramaturgy, devising, music, dance, artificial intelligence and circus. Our function is to archive the conference digitally and physically as it happens.
