Cathy Turner (artist)

Last updated

Cathy Turner is a British artist and researcher, specialising in dramaturgy, site-specific performance and walking art. [1] She is a founder member of Wrights & Sites, [2] and a Senior Lecturer in Drama at the University of Exeter. [3] Turner's practice and research explore how one's life experience can influence one's perception of their environment.

Contents

Dramaturgy

Turner's dramaturgical research focuses on the relationship between performance and place, [4] an area she has explored and documented in her book Dramaturgy and Architecture: Theatre, Utopia and the Built Environment. [5]

Wrights & Sites

Turner is a founding member of Wrights & Sites, a group of artist-researchers who develop site-specific artistic works. They are best known for their walking misguides, and their use of the Letterist/Situationist practice of dérive. [6]

Walking Women

In 2009 Turner collaborated with Deirdre Heddon on a series of interviews with women walking artists. In their two essays, 'Walking Women: Shifting the Tales and Scales of Mobility' and 'Walking Women: interviews with artists on the move', Heddon and Turner argue that a fraternal lineage dominates walking, with the practices of female walkers erased or marginalised. Their work introduces the voices of contemporary female artists that walk into the historical record. [7] [8]

Heddon and Turner's work has sparked a series of practice-based interventions that focus on women who walk. These include 'Er Outdoors' a series of radio programs curated by Jo Norcup that make 'audible the voices of women past and present'; [9] and WALKING WOMEN, a series of exhibitions, talks and events curated by Amy Sharrocks and Clare Qualmann that actively 're-write the canon' and 'imagine a future in which gender bias and skewed vision is destroyed'. [10]

Selected works

Performance

Dramaturgy

Selected publications

Cathy Turner (2015). Dramaturgy and Architecture: Theatre, Utopia and the Built Environment. Palgrave.

Cathy Turner and Synne Behrndt (2007).Dramaturgy and Performance. Palgrave Macmillan.

Cathy Turner, Tony Weaver, Stephen Hodge, Simon Persighetti and Phil Smith (2006). A Mis-Guide to Anywhere. Wrights & Sites.

Related Research Articles

Scenography is a practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography is the combination of technological and material stagecrafts to represent, enact, and produce a sense of place in performance. While inclusive of the techniques of scenic design and set design, scenography is a holistic approach to the study and practice of all aspects of design in performance.

Verse drama is any drama written significantly in verse to be performed by an actor before an audience. Although verse drama does not need to be primarily in verse to be considered verse drama, significant portions of the play should be in verse to qualify.

Artsadmin

Artsadmin is a UK-based organisation founded in 1979 by Judith Knight, MBE and Seonaid Stewart, providing project management, producing, support and resources for artists working in the fields of performance, dance, live art and mixed media work. Artsadmin has established a range of new opportunities for artists with a bursary and mentoring scheme, a creative support service, engagement programme and a public programme at Toynbee Studios.

Devised theatre - frequently called collective creation - is a method of theatre-making in which the script or performance score originates from collaborative, often improvisatory work by a performing ensemble. The ensemble is typically made up of actors, but other categories of theatre practitioner may also be central to this process of generative collaboration, such as visual artists, composers, and choreographers; indeed, in many instances, the contributions of collaborating artists may transcend professional specialization. This process is similar to that of commedia dell'arte and street theatre. It also shares some common principles with improvisational theatre; however, in devising, improvisation is typically confined to the creation process: by the time a devised piece is presented to the public, it usually has a fixed, or partly fixed form. Historically, devised theatre is also strongly aligned with physical theatre, due at least in part to the fact that training in such physical performance forms as commedia, mime, and clown tends to produce an actor-creator with much to contribute to the creation of original work.

Endurance art Kind of performance art involving hardship

Endurance art is a kind of performance art involving some form of hardship, such as pain, solitude or exhaustion. Performances that focus on the passage of long periods of time are also known as durational art or durational performances.

Hamish Fulton

Hamish Fulton is an English walking artist. Since 1972 he has only made works based on the experience of walks. He translates his walks into a variety of media, including photography, illustrations, and wall texts. His work is contained in major museums collections, such as the Tate Britain and MoMA. Since 1994 he has begun practicing group walks. Fulton argues that 'walking is an artform in its own right' and argues for wider acknowledgement of walking art.

The performative turn is a paradigmatic shift in the humanities and social sciences that has affected such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, ethnography, history and the relatively young discipline of performance studies. Central to the performative turn is the concept of performance.

Spacex (art gallery) Contemporary art gallery in Devon, England

Spacex was a contemporary art organisation, located in Exeter, between 1974 and 2017. It was founded in 1974 by John Butler as an artist co-operative. Its programme spanned installations, performance, photography, sculpture, painting, film and video. Its learning programme focused on helping visitors of all ages to explore and engage with contemporary art.

Thomas Trevor (curator)

Thomas Trevor is a British curator and writer on contemporary art.

Lois Keidan is a British-born cultural activist and writer. She is currently the Director of the Live Art Development Agency which she co-founded with Catherine Ugwu in 1999. She was the former director of live arts at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) from 1992 to 1997. Prior to working at the ICA, she was responsible for national policy and provision for Performance Art and interdisciplinary practices at the Arts Council of Great Britain.

Platform 4 is a National performance and visual arts company based in Winchester, Hampshire, in the UK.

Deirdre Heddon, is Professor of Contemporary Performance at the University of Glasgow (UK). She is a practice-based researcher and has published articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as academic monographs and book-chapters. She is well known for her interest in autobiographical performance, site-specific performance and walking art.

Amy Sharrocks is a UK based live artist, sculptor, filmmaker and curator from London, England. Sharrocks' work focuses on collaboration and exchange, inviting people on journeys that they also help to create. She is known for large scale, live artworks in public places that use everyday activities, such as swimming or walking, in spectacular ways. Many of her artworks investigate the nature of cities, explore the importance of fluidity as a way of thinking, and question our constructs of city life. Her work has been supported by Arts Council England, The Live Art Development Agency and Artsadmin. Major works include SWIM (2007), a 50-person swim across London, and the ongoing Museum of Water (2013-Ongoing), a collection of over one thousand bottles of water from around the world.

Simone Kenyon is a performer, artist and producer born in Bradford, West Yorkshire. She works extensively with walking, and in collaboration with other artists and dancers. In 2006, with the dancer Tamara Ashley, she made 'The Pennine Way: The Legs that Make Us', a durational art project in the form of a walk, creating a performance lecture about the project for ROAM a weekend of walking at Loughborough University in 2008, and a book published by Brief Magnetics in 2007. With Andrew Brown and Katie Doubleday she instigated the 'Open City' project in 2006, exploring the organisation and control of behaviour in the public realm. Kenyon worked with Deveron Arts in Huntly, Aberdeenshire on the founding of their "Walking Institute" and completed a commission 'Hielan' Ways' - a long distance walk in the Cairngorms in 2013-14. She has also completed walking-based work Step by Step, 2013 for Dance4 in collaboration with Neil Callaghan. Kenyon is connected with the Walking Artists Network.

Clare Qualmann

Clare Qualmann is a British multi-media performance artist based in London, UK. She is a senior lecturer in performing arts at the University of East London and also teaches at London Metropolitan University.

The Walking Artists Network (WAN) is an international network dedicated to walking as a critical and artistic practice; it reflects the growth and increased interest in walking art. It is based at the University of East London's Centre for Performing Arts Development and contains a network of over 600 members from across the globe, though predominantly based in the United Kingdom. The network maintains an active email discussion community through JISCmail.

Wrights & Sites is a group of British artists who work with site-specific performance and walking art. Founded in 1997, Wrights & Sites consists of artist researchers Stephen Hodge, Simon Persighetti, Phil Smith and Cathy Turner. Their work is inspired by the Letterist and Situationist Internationals, particularly the practice of dérive.

Walkwalkwalk (2005–2010) is a British artist collective consisting of Gail Burton, Serena Korda and Clare Qualmann. Based in London, their work focuses on their own routine walks in the Bethnal Green neighborhood of East London, as well as overlooked and forgotten spaces. Walkwalkwalk identify their move to walking as in part a response to monetary requirement and the financial restrictions present of living in London. Their work looks to bring attention to overlooked and forgotten spaces and create alternative modes of engagement with the city.

Monique Besten

Monique Besten is a walking artist, writer, performer, historian and activist. She is known for her long-distance walking work, and is the subject of articles and publications discussing the use of walking as an art practice; she is a member of the Walking Artists Network. She has been cited by scholar Phil Smith as part of a new generation of artists engaging site-specific theatre through 'performative journeys'.

Marisa Carr, who performs as Marisa Carnesky, is a British live artist and showwoman. She uses spectacular entertainment forms, including fairground devices and stage illusion, and draws on themes of contemporary ritual, to investigate social issues from an ecofeminist perspective. Time Out declared that Carnesky's 'unique niche of interactive end-of-the-pier esoterica has fused ghost trains, anatomical models and tattoo culture with religion, feminism and class consciousness in ways both playful and rewardingly demanding.'

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Phil (1 January 2010). "The contemporary dérive: a partial review of issues concerning the contemporary practice of psychogeography". Cultural Geographies. 17 (1): 103–122. doi:10.1177/1474474009350002.
  2. ↑ "Wrights & Sites: about". www.mis-guide.com. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  3. ↑ "University of Exeter". University of Exeter Staff Profile: Dr Cathy Turner. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  4. ↑ Mock, Roberta (2009). Walking, Writing & Performance. Bristol: Intellect. p. 153. ISBN   9781841501550.
  5. ↑ Turner, Cathy (2015). Dramaturgy and Architecture: Theatre, Utopia and the Built Environment. Palgrave.
  6. ↑ Turner, Cathy (1 November 2004). "Palimpsest or Potential Space? Finding a Vocabulary for Site-Specific Performance". New Theatre Quarterly. 20 (04): 373–390. doi:10.1017/S0266464X04000259. ISSN   1474-0613.
  7. ↑ Turner, Cathy; Heddon, Deirdre (2012). "Walking Women: Shifting the Tales and Scales of Mobility". Contemporary Theatre Review. 22 (2): 225–226.
  8. ↑ Turner, Cathy; Heddon, Deirdre (2010). "Walking Women: Interviews with artists on the move". Performance Research. 15 (4).
  9. ↑ "Resonance FM: a double-bill and Walking Women Art – Geography Workshop". geographyworkshop.com. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  10. ↑ "WALKING WOMEN - Events - Live Art Development Agency". Live Art Development Agency. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  11. ↑ "Wrights & Sites (GB) | Ambulant Architectures" . Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "Everything you need to build a town is here - Wonders of Weston". www.wondersofweston.org. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  13. 1 2 Rufford, Juliet (2015). Theatre and Architecture. Palgrave Macmillan.
  14. ↑ Heddon, Deidre; Klein, Jennie (2012). Histories and Practices of Live Art. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   9780230229747.
  15. ↑ Spacex. "Spacex". Spacex. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  16. ↑ "Credits | And on the Thousandth Night... | KUNSTENFESTIVALDESARTS". archive.kfda.be. Archived from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  17. ↑ Persighetti; et al. (2000). "Site-specific: "The Quay Thing" documented". Standing Committee of University Drama Departments. Studies in theatre and performance supplement.
  18. ↑ "Writing Space Research Grant Propsal, RCUK". gtr.rcuk.ac.uk. 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  19. ↑ "REF Case study search". impact.ref.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.