Bodies of Performance - A Talk by Roberta Mock, 29th November 7pm

As part of the Cultivator funded presentations for Hypatia's Creative Network, this talk thinks through the relationships between the body of an individual performer and her body of performance work over an extended period of time. Focusing three very different performers -- Canadian performance artist, Jess Dobkin; London-based interdisciplinary visual artist, Oreet Ashery; and the late American comedian, Joan Rivers -- it will consider how specific performance events might embody the ghostings, reanimations and accumulations of previous performances by both the artist in question and others.

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At the heart of this exploration is the spatiality of the performing body, borrowing from Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s understanding of the body as a “nexus of living meanings,” in order to consider the transgression of gendered expectations. For each of these women, the tensions between interiority and exteriority operate as both seams and fault lines, enabling deep connections to the historicity of performing bodies as well as effective ones with audiences and participants in the moment of performance.

Roberta Mock is Professor of Performance Studies and the Director of the Doctoral College at the University of Plymouth. She is also the Chair of the Theatre & Performance Research Association (TaPRA). Her books include Jewish Women on Stage, Film & Television; Performance, Embodiment and Cultural Memory (as co-editor with Colin Counsell); and Walking, Writing and Performance (as editor). From 1996 to 2006 she directed and performed with Lusty Juventus physical theatre; now she makes occasional solo performances.

More information on this event can be found here.