{"id":54,"date":"2019-05-16T18:50:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T18:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/19\/?p=54"},"modified":"2023-03-19T09:51:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T09:51:15","slug":"how-psi-works-the-practice-of-performance-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/19\/how-psi-works-the-practice-of-performance-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"How PSi Works: The Practice of Performance Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maaike Bleeker*<\/a>, Eero Laine**<\/a>, Sean Metzger***<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abstract:<\/strong> Performance Studies international (PSi) is an organization that has grown over more than two decades and continues to experiment with various modes of performance making and study. This article examines the history, trajectory and major projects of PSi and marks the ways that PSi and its members have worked and continue to work collaboratively across continents. The authors note the ways that annual conferences have developed and changed, along with the many initiatives that have emerged from the organization\u2019s intensive international collaboration. Of particular note are the various research clusters of academics and artists, evolving publication projects and an ethos of innovation that comes from engaging with performance as both an object of study and a methodology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords<\/strong>: Performance, performance studies, international, organizations, PSi<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Performance Studies international is an organization that emerged in\nresponse to the growing interest in the study of performance in its many forms\nand in the various ways in which performance might serve as a lens through\nwhich to understand a wide variety of cultural phenomena. Many different types\nof scholars have studied what performance is and does, but these efforts have\noften been and continue to be dispersed across various university disciplines,\nincluding anthropology, art, dance, folklore, history, linguistics, music,\nphilosophy, sociology and theatre, among others. Performance Studies sought to\ncollect these efforts in various collectives of scholars and scholar-artists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are competing narratives and genealogies of Performance Studies\nthat cut across the fields mentioned above, but the most frequent origin\nstories cite the formal instantiation of Performance Studies departments at NYU\nand Northwestern University. Notwithstanding these debates, PSi can trace its\nown beginning to any of several events: the first conference held under that\nrubric in 1995 in New York; the third conference held in Georgia, at which\nattendees decided to establish a formal association; or the fourth conference\nheld in New York; where the association was founded as a non-profit\norganization based in the United States for tax purposes.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these origin stories privilege the United States as the locus of\nthis field of study, and one expects that other histories may eventually emerge\nto contest or otherwise add nuance to these foundational narratives.[2]<\/sup><\/a> Certainly,\nthe organization\u2019s annual meetings in many different places around the world\nhave contributed to drawing attention to other genealogies of performance\nresearch in other contexts and have generated a large archive of material\npertaining to the conference in the many locations that have hosted it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These annual conferences have served as the primary activity of PSi.\nThey play an important role in facilitating connections between scholars and\npractitioners working in different places in the world, and in further\ndeveloping our understanding of the subjects we study and the work we create,\nas well as Performance Studies itself, from an international perspective. PSi\nconferences and other events aim to foster the development of Performance\nStudies in ways that are inclusive and allow those who are participating to\ntransform what Performance Studies can be. Usually, these conferences include\nseveral basic elements that are common to most academic conferences, like a\nseries of keynotes and official speeches, an annual general meeting, panels,\nroundtables, performances and a separate set of board meetings. This structure\nresponds to logistical requirements. Most of our conferences have been hosted\nby academic institutions, and many of our members require formal acceptances\nfor papers that will be given during the conference in order to apply for\nfunding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video 1<\/h6>\n\n\n\n