Something Fun... William Forsythe, algorithms, choreography, space.

Forsythe, William and Paul Kaiser, 'Dance Gemotery: A Conversation with William Forsythe', Performance Research, Vol 4, No. 2, Summer 1999, pp.64-71.

http://www.openendedgroup.com/index.php/publications/conversations/forsythe/

Follow this link to read a conversation between contemporary choreographer William Forsythe and digital artist Paul Kaiser. Here they consider Forsythe's choreographic method and its parallels to algorithmic processes in digital programming. The discussion foregrounds Forsythe's use of particular geometrical frameworks for the spatial organization of the human body.

These two artists had previously collaborated with the Center for Art and Media Technology (ZKM) in Karlsruhe to produce a CD ROM entitled Improvisation Technologies: An Analytical Tool for the Dance Eye, (2000), [1994]. The work contains footage of Forsythe's improvisation exercises annotated with superimposed animation, which illustrates the spatial diagrams of the movement idiom.

Also included on the CD ROM is the work Solo (2005), a seven minute improvisation performed by Forsythe demonstrating the practice of his choreographic technology. Owing to the wonder of cyberspace, you can find the whole solo on YouTube:



Enjoy.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Appropriating Space
A National Interdisciplinary Colloquium for Postgraduate Students

22-23 February 2008
Goldsmiths University of London

From gaming halls to ghost towns, wailing walls to waterholes, social spaces are shaped by the people who inhabit them. Appropriating Space is a student-led colloquium for postgraduates that will explore the many ways in which social and spatial activity and identity are intertwined.

This call for papers invites students to examine the construction of space from many perspectives, identifying the various ways in which diverse groups shape and inscribe social space. The idea of social space can include (but is not limited to): professional environments, collectivities and communes, national and local territories, political imperatives, alternative spaces, performance spaces and theatres, marketplaces, pubs, art galleries and museums, annexed spaces, sacred or spiritual spaces or domestic contexts; the problematics of space and the mechanisms of globalisation.

Organised by the Sociology of Theatre and Performance Research Group at Goldsmiths (led by Professor Maria Shevtsova), this event will provide an opportunity for postgraduates in all fields across the UK to engage with their peers across disciplines in a challenging and convivial environment. In addition to showcasing their own research through the presentation of conference papers, students will be able to participate in several roundtable discussions and panel sessions over the course of the colloquium. This is a unique opportunity for postgraduates across the country to meet, network and exchange ideas in a truly interdisciplinary context.

We welcome submissions from postgraduate research students. If you would like to participate, please submit your name, university, conference paper title or title of practical workshop and 250-word abstract to appropriating.space@gmail.com. Deadline for applications is 31 December 2007.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with any queries you may have regarding the colloquium.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Rachel Shapiro
Anna Porubcansky

PhD Students in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts
Sociology of Theatre and Performance Research Group
Goldsmiths University of London