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Live Laboratory Symposium

took place from 22-24 January 2010
in and around The Slaughterhouse, Royal William Yard, Plymouth
 
Presented by Plymouth Arts Centre, The University of Plymouth and the Marina Abramovic Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art.


The purpose of the Live Laboratory Symposium was to discuss the past, present and future of live art practice. It was part of The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow, a performance festival, exhibition and publication co-curated by Marina Abramovic and Paula Orrell (Curator, Plymouth Arts Centre).

Participants in the Symposium included: Marina Abramovic, Ron Athey, Kira O'Reilly, Adrian Heathfield, Tehching Hsieh, Dominic Johnson, Nick Kaye, Lois Keidan,  Alastair MacLennan, Hayley Newman, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Jovana Stokic, Andre Stitt and Lois Weaver.

The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow featured performance work by: Davide Balliano (US), Snezana Golubovic (Serbia), Tellervo and Oliver Kalleinen (Finland), Eva and Franco Mattes (Germany), Performance Re-enactment Society (UK) and Francesca Steele (UK).

In the context of the development of Marina Abramovic’s new Institute for the preservation of performance and the work she co-curated in Plymouth, participants in the Live Laboratory Symposium were invited to witness durational performance works and to engage in a dialogue about the issues of foundation & generation in performance & live art practice. This was an experimental space in which artists, curators, scholars, students, and critics were encouraged to imagine and conceptualize their future. The questions driving the Symposium were:

• What are the foundations of contemporary live art practice? How do we find and make them?
• How do we generate live art practice in subsequent generations?
• How do we facilitate cross-generational exchange?
• In these generative processes, what are the potential roles of art foundations, institutes, training & professional development providers for artists, curators, artist-curators, archives, and universities?

The event also included a film screening of Seven Easy Pieces.

The Live Laboratory Symposium was developed with Lee Miller and Roberta Mock, who both teach Theatre & Performance at the University of Plymouth.

The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow was funded and partnered by Arts Council England, Plymouth City Council, University of Plymouth, Henry Moore Institute, Anti-Bodies, FRAME, Manchester International Festival, Arnolfini, Urban Splash and Prestel. Anti-Bodies is coordinated by Relational with support from Arts Council England and has been granted the Inspire mark as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

Image: Plymouth artist Francesca Steele at Royal William Yard, Plymouth. Photo: Simon Keitch