Staged Conversations Using dialogue as both method and form when staging documentary material for theater and film
(2024)
author(s): Marcus Lindeen
published in: Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
Between 2017 and 2024, I have conducted an artistic research PhD project at Stockholm University of the Arts resulting in a feature length documentary film (The Raft, 2018), a documentary based theater play (The Invisible Adventure, 2020) and a book with his work diaries documenting the process of creating the two works (Staged conversations, 2024). The research project focuses on using the conversation as both method and form for staging documentary material for theater and film.
The Raft reunites seven people who were all part of a social experiment crossing the Atlantic on a raft in 1973. The film mixes archive footage from the original journey with scenes shot in a studio, where participants share memories onboard a scenographic replica of the real raft.
In The Invisible Adventure three characters – a scientist, a video artist and a transplantation patient – meet for an intimate conversation on identity and transformation. The performers who interpret the characters through repeating dialogue from a sound script in hidden ear-pieces, sit together with the audience members in a circular scenography, where there is no separation between stage and audience seats.
Both the film and the play are using the staged conversation as a shape for the storytelling and share similarities in their visual expression with wooden scenographies set in a black box studio environment. In the film it is the real people from the raft journey who reunite 43 years later in the studio. In the play the script is based on three separate interviews with people who have never met, but who are interpreted by performers.
The research project will be finished and presented publicly in January 2024. The film and play will be presented together with the release of the book at Gothenburg International Film Festival in collaboration with Gothenburg City Theater.
The Ecology of Artistic Research
(2023)
author(s): Elizabeth Torres
published in: Research Catalogue
In the past decade, artistic research has emerged as a prominent means of generating new knowledge while addressing pressing issues such as sustainability and environmental concerns. However, due to its relative newness, the field lacks a clear mainstream understanding regarding its potential, meaning, structures, and limitations. The Ecology of Artistic Research is an interdisciplinary investigation that aims to explore the multifaceted dimensions of the field, with a particular focus on the significance of artistic research to researchers and practitioners themselves, and how they perceive, process, and embody knowledge through their practice. This project seeks to identify sustainable approaches to artistic research, demystify and clarify the language of artistic research for lay audiences, visualize the mechanisms of the field, and visibilize structures and networks that pay closer attention to the narratives of our world in transformation.
The investigation is conducted through a cycle of conversations and artistic responses, with a particular focus on the Nordic countries of Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Through engaging contemporary artistic practitioners, academic institutions and researchers in conversations, the project seeks to gain insight into their work, concerns, and personal experiences. The output of this research takes various interdisciplinary forms, including audiovisual interviews, articles, and a multimedia exposition.
NOTES ON PERFORMANCE ART, THE BODY AND THE POLITICAL
(2017)
author(s): Andrea Pagnes
published in: Research Catalogue
When I use the term ‘political’ related to performance art, I intend to set forth a space of possible, civil negotiation for and among artists and audience to analyse and further debate on how to overcome and transform schemes, rules, conventions and barriers, socially and culturally.
Curatorial text published in the post event catalogue of the second edition of the Live art exhibition project Venice International Performance Art Week "Ritual Body-Political Body" (2014) conceived and curated by VestAndPage.
sin ∞ fin - The Movie | A performance-based art film project by VestAndPage (Andrea Pagnes & Verena Stenke)
(2016)
author(s): Andrea Pagnes
published in: Research Catalogue
Inspired by Peter Sloterdijk’s investigation dissecting Micro- and Macro- spherology in his trilogy Spheres, and by Italo Calvino’s novel Invisible Cities, the moving image project sin ∞ fin – The Movie by VestAndPage is based on various stages of research to conjugate performance art with filmmaking. Its final result consists of an art film trilogy produced along the course of three years in the following artist-in-residence programs: CONFL!CTA Contemporary Art and Science Research (Punta Arenas, Chile, 2010); Sarai CSDS Centre for the Studies of Developing Societies (New Delhi, India, 2011); Cultural Program of the DNA Dirección Nacional del Antártico (Antarctica / Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2012), and based on performances conceived site-specific.
My Body Asking Your Body Questions: VestAndPage (Verena Stenke & Andrea Pagnes) interviewed by Valeria Romagnini & Karlyn De Jong (Personal Structures |GAA Foundation)
(2015)
author(s): Andrea Pagnes
published in: Research Catalogue
Complete and revised version in origin of the interview with performance artist duo VestAndPage by Valeria Romagnini with additional questions by Karlyn De Jong, partly published in Personal Structures, vol. II, 2013. The artists analyze in depth issues such as the "here and now", the position of the Self, the value of freedom, relational paradigms and the importance of the audience.
TWO BODIES IN SPACE | DURATIONAL PERFORMANCE: The Quest for Authenticity in the VestAndPage Experience
(2015)
author(s): Andrea Pagnes
published in: Research Catalogue
Andrea Pagnes, from the performance art duo VestAndPage, presents a reflective piece that will become essential reading for anyone interested in durational and related performance practice. The particular focus on research concentrates the importance of the insights in this piece. Pagnes demonstrates the use of performance as a form of personal expression that leads to a greater capacity for sensitive interpretation and understanding.
—Ross Woodrow, Executive Editor Studio Research Journal
When I use the term ‘political’ related to performance art, I intend to set forth a space of possible, civil negotiation for and among artists and audience to analyse and further debate on how to overcome and transform schemes, rules, conventions and barriers, socially and culturally. Curatorial text published in the post event catalogue of the second edition of the Live art exhibition project Venice International Performance Art Week "Ritual Body-Political Body" (2014) conceived and curated by VestAndPage.open exposition comments (0)
Inspired by Peter Sloterdijk’s investigation dissecting Micro- and Macro- spherology in his trilogy Spheres, and by Italo Calvino’s novel Invisible Cities, the moving image project sin ∞ fin – The Movie by VestAndPage is based on various stages of research to conjugate performance art with filmmaking. Its final result consists of an art film trilogy produced along the course of three years in the following artist-in-residence programs: CONFL!CTA Contemporary Art and Science Research (Punta Arenas, Chile, 2010); Sarai CSDS Centre for the Studies of Developing Societies (New Delhi, India, 2011); Cultural Program of the DNA Dirección Nacional del Antártico (Antarctica / Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2012), and based on performances conceived site-specific.open exposition comments (0)
Complete and revised version in origin of the interview with performance artist duo VestAndPage by Valeria Romagnini with additional questions by Karlyn De Jong, partly published in Personal Structures, vol. II, 2013. The artists analyze in depth issues such as the "here and now", the position of the Self, the value of freedom, relational paradigms and the importance of the audience.open exposition comments (0)
Andrea Pagnes, from the performance art duo VestAndPage, presents a reflective piece that will become essential reading for anyone interested in durational and related performance practice. The particular focus on research concentrates the importance of the insights in this piece. Pagnes demonstrates the use of performance as a form of personal expression that leads to a greater capacity for sensitive interpretation and understanding. —Ross Woodrow, Executive Editor Studio Research Journalopen exposition comments (0)