The Poetics of Research

In connection with the elections for the position of researcher at the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art of the University of Latvia (LU LFMI), we invite you to the seminar "The Poetics of Research" on Wednesday, December 11, at 3:00 PM in the Latvian Folklore Archives reading room, located on the 5th floor of the National Library of Latvia.

The seminar will feature a presentation by Kitija Balcare titled "The Body and Ecotheatre: From Movement to Bioperformativity."

Abstract

With the decline in biodiversity, interspecies relationships are increasingly entering the realm of art, emphasizing that species, including humans and non-human beings, exist in interconnectedness rather than isolation. In shaping and understanding interspecies interactions, the body, its expressions, and its materiality play a significant role. On stage, physicality is prominent not only in dance and movement performances but also in post-dramatic theatre. In ecotheatre, which addresses interspecies relationships, bioperformativity and theriotheatricality are characteristic elements.

Analyzing Latvian examples of ecotheatre from recent years (2020–2024) that align with expressions of interspecies theatre reveals a tendency to move from mere movement to the field of bioperformativity. Here, movement embodying a species transcends illustrative representation, shedding symbolic burdens to become a tangible testament to the embodied non-human being’s existence in the shared performance space. Movement, emerging from the bodies of both performers and spectators, is crucial for developing an understanding of interconnectedness in ecotheatre. Bioperformativity in ecotheatre creates an environment that deepens the audience’s ecological awareness through bodily engagement and interaction with the more-than-human world.

The presentation will explore interspecies relationships in ecotheatre, analyzing artistic methods for embodying these relationships on stage. The theoretical foundation will include Una Chaudhuri's interspecies theatre theory, Lisa Woynarski's bioperformativity theory, and Anna Tsing's concepts of interspecies interconnectedness. Methodologically, the analysis of performances will employ an eco-critical close reading approach based on the method developed by theatre scholar Theresa J. May.