Performance Research vol. 11

Wed Apr 27 15:56:56 EDT 2005

Call for Contributions to Performance Research Vol. 11
Lexicon

And for Made to Order Issue No. 11:1 (Spring 2006)

Editors: Ric Allsopp, Richard Gough, Claire MacDonald

In the spring of 2006 Performance Research will begin its second decade of publication, and we are devoting the four-issues of Volume 11 to an exploration of the terms under which performance is debated, discussed, conducted, written about and constructed, in the form of lexicons and dictionaries, encyclopedias and key words.
Over the past ten years Performance Research has generated issue titles that provoke response and debate, using them to stimulate, frame and respond to current trends in art and performance. The intention has been not merely to offer subjects for discussion, but to extend the imaginative field of performance discourse. Over the decade we have offered titles as 'word play, that is as terms that can be subjected to pressure and so reveal a multiplicity of possible uses and meanings. The list is a long one, but a random sequence might include: refuge, silence, departure, navigation, risk, illusion, generation, voices, correspondence and civility, as well as subjects like archiving, editing, animals, place, the page and theatre itself, that seek to identify subject matter that is significant to current critical and creative practice. In Volume 11 we take our interest in words, discourse, linguistic systems and their relationship to performance practice much further, and to ask artists and writers to consider these in relation to the histories, philosophies and pragmatics of performance, art making and performance writing.
    Volume 11 will begin with 'Made to Order', whose call for papers is below. It will continue with two issues on key words, and end with an issue on the nature of the index. We would be interested in proposals from writers and artists who would be interested in contributing to issues over the year, as well as for individual contributions to particular issues.

Issue 11.1 (spring 2006) Made to Order

Issue Editor: Claire MacDonald

What is the relationship between performance practice and the ordering systems that generate and archive it? To begin our anniversary year we are considering ordering systems - encyclopedias, lexicons, dictionaries, lists, stage directions - in relation to the histories, practices, theories and discourses of performance. From Georges Perec's 'A Species of Spaces' to Forced Entertainment's recent performance lexicon, what do dictionaries, lexicons and encyclopedias tell us about their subjects and about their compilers? Conversely, we are also interested in the ways in which systems of order, alphabetical and otherwise, might be conceived of as instances of performance practice in themselves. From the invented alphabets of Lettrism to the transformed visual letters of artist Xu Bing, the notion of performing alphabetical order has been a central part of avant garde practice, and therefore of performance art. We might also consider how patterns and concepts of order work in space and time on the page, in the performance space, in site-specific work and in the book, as well as how performance events and material objects relate to their archival entries? Lists, sequences and series appear in the work of many artists, but how does sequence relate to narrative?
The issue will preface two subsequent issues dealing with performance keywords, not simply terms that are currently crucial to the emerging field as it grows, but 'key words' in the sense for which Raymond Williams coined the term in the 1970s - terms in flux, terms that indicate tension and change or that show shifts in thinking; terms that divide generations, or that continue to provoke dissent. 'Made to Order' is a companion to the projected final issue of the volume, 'Indexical Traces', an issue that looks at the nature of the index as a form and at indexes tell us about the textual and performance forms that they relate to.

Deadlines for issue 11:1 are as follows:

Proposals:  27th May 2005
Draft manuscripts: 18th July 2005
Finalised material: 19th September 2005
Publication Date:  Spring 2006

ALL proposals, submissions and general enquiries should be sent direct to:

 Linden Elmhirst - Administrative Assistant
 Performance Research
 Dartington College of Arts, Totnes,
 Devon TQ9 7RD UK
 tel. 0044 1803 861683
 fax. 0044 1803 861685
 email: performance-research at dartington.ac.uk
 web: http://www.performance-research.net

Content specific enquires should be directed to Claire Macdonald at:
prissue at mac.com

Enquiries about the volume as a whole should be directed to:
Ric Allsopp  transomatic at orange.net  OR  r.allsopp at dartington.ac.uk

For complete Guidelines for Submissions please see:
http://www.performance-research.net/pages/guidelines.html

Performance Research is MAC based. Proposals will be accepted in hard copy, on CD or by e-mail (Apple Works, MS-Word or RTF). Please DO NOT send images without prior agreement.
Please note that submission of a proposal will be taken to imply that it presents original, unpublished work not under consideration for publication elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript, the author(s) agree that the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article have been given to Performance Research

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"To celebrate this award, and the work it recognizes of those around the world, let me recall the words
of Gandhi: My life is my message. Also, plant a tree."--Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel 
Peace Prize.

________________________________________________________________________________________

" . . . and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: 
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
 Isaiah 2.4
___________________
Denis Salter
Professor of Theatre
McGill University
853 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, QC
H3A 2T6
Tel (514) 398 6550
Fax (514) 398 8146
d.salter at videotron.ca
denis.salter at mcgill.ca
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