Pondering with Contorta Pines

Towards Post-humanist Approaches in Performance as Research

Författare

• Annette Arlander Academy of Fine Art, University of the Arts Helsinki

Nyckelord:

Contorta pines, post-humanism, context, process, performance as research

Abstract

In this text I discuss the possibility of a post-humanist approach to performance as research with the help of three examples from Reykjavik, Iceland, where I performed with some Contorta pines on Öskjuhlid hill in 2022. Drawing on the pedagogical vision of Craig Holdrege concerning plants as teachers of context and transformation, John Hartigan’s ethnographic adaptation of Holdrege’s ideas as well as philosopher Michael Marder’s and Emanuele Coccia’s thoughts on the specific relationship between plants and site, I return to theatre historian Bruce McConachie’s suggestion concerning the effects of performance, and consider the possibility of imaginatively restoring agency to non-humans by talking to them as well as the implications of focusing on context and process in performance as research.