A postdoctoral research project at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), hosted by Instant-Lab, Prof. Simon Henein
In this postdoctoral research I examine dance improvisation in its potential to rethink and advance processes of learning and researching in a technical university. Placed in the context of EPFL, a university specialised in engineering, the project takes a new approach to exploring and articulating the practice-knowledge of dance improvisers in relation to the needs of scientists, students and educators in higher education. As such this artistic research situates itself right at the heart of the critical discourses around the dichotomies of practice/theory, art/science, body/mind, action/reflection, as well as the divide between object and subject in research processes. The sensing body, reflection in action, and play are the practical themes of the project.
My artistic research project is part of the ASCOPET research (Les arts de la scène comme outil pédagogique dans l’enseignement tertiaire), a collaboration between Prof. Simon Henein, EPFL and Prof. Laure Kloetzer, University of Neuchatel (Unine). In June 2019 we held the first international ASCOPET symposium on higher education learning through performance practices on the EPFL campus. The event offered an opportunity for an international exchange on applying performing arts and improvisation methods to higher education.
Organisation and Curation: Laure Kloetzer and Susanne Martin
Speakers: Simon Henein / Laure Kloetzer / Ramiro Tau, Switzerland; Jonathan Parker, UK; Helle Winther, Denmark; Francesco Mondada, Switzerland; Gunter Lösel / Nicole Erichsen, Germany / Switzerland; Fran Iglesias Gracia, Spain; Susanne Martin, Germany / Switzerland.
See also: https://www.epfl.ch/labs/instantlab/improgineering/
Public Presentations:
– 27.10.2020 Improvisation für die Universität? Gewohnheiten in Bewegung Lecture Performance, Saalfrei Festival Stuttgart
Photo: Gordon Below
Photo: Gordon Below
Photo: Gordon Below
– 21 January 2020 Improvising to Collaborate – Collaborating to Improvise research presentation with Martin Sonderkamp during the annual research week at the University of the Arts Stockholm
photo: Sissel Behring, research week at Uniarts Stockholm 21.1.2020, presentation Martin/Sonderkamp
– June 2019 Bodies in the Making interactive danced lecture with generous participation of Norah Zuniga Shaw, Soundance Festival Berlin
Video: Andrea Keiz, Bodies in the Making, 22 June 2019, collaboration with Norah Zuniga Shaw
Video: Andrea Keiz, Bodies in the Making, 22 June 2019, improvisation of participants
Video: Andrea Keiz, Bodies in the Making, 22 June 2019
-13 June 2019 Learning to Improvise – Improvising to Learn interactive danced lecture with generous participation of Alexandra Macdonald and EPFL master students, during the Symposium on Higher Education Learning through Performance Practices, EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland
Photo: Simon Henein, ASCOPET symposium 13 June 2019 , Presentation „Learning to Improvise…“ improvisation of Improgineering students
Photo: Simon Henein, ASCOPET symposium 13 June 2019 ,Presentation „Learning to Improvise…“ improvisation with Alexandra Macdonald
Photo: Simon Henein, ASCOPET symposium 13 June 2019 „Learning to Improvise…“, improvisation with Alexandra Macdonald
Photo: Simon Henein, EPFL symposium 13 June 2019, Presentation „Learning to Improvise…“
-23 March 2019, IMPROGINEERING or Move Towards the Unknown, Fall Into a Gap, and Find a Body There, together with Simon Henein, international conference Society of Artistic Research SAR, Zürich.
Video: Joelle Valterio, SAR Conference 2019 Presentation Heinein/Martin performing improvisation
Video: Joelle Valterio, SAR Conference 2019 Presentation Heinein/Martin performing improvisation
Video: Joelle Valterio, SAR Conference 2019 Presentation Heinein/Martin, improvisation of participants
-25 January 2019 Improvisation and Engineering, Eawag, The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology, Zürich, Switzerland
-7 September 2018 IMPROGINEERING interactive lecture performance together with Simon Henein and Joelle Valterio, Conférence Européenne de l’Improvisation (CEPI) Haute Ville, Puget, France
See on the website of epfl.ch:
I M P R O G I N E E R I N G
Book descriptions:
