Psi 9 April 7-12, 2003
Field Station, New Zealand: Environment/Performance

The Ninth Annual Performance Studies International Conference will be staged as an experiment in collaborative fieldwork, presentation and performance.
The conference will be hosted by Te Puna Toi (Performance Research Project NZ) and the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.
This conference recognizes the tourist experience as a key component of performance research. Accordingly, tourist destinations will be treated as field stations: series of sites and topics designed to bring together scholars and artists, international and local, from performance studies and other disciplines. In place of the more finished products that conventional panels and conference performances generally involve, prospective participants will provide statements of interest from which specific topics, groups (five to ten people) and itineraries for fieldwork in New Zealand will be developed, and leaders/guides will help to prepare the ground in advance, with transport and accommodation to be organized as appropriate.
The conference will begin with a plenary session. Participants will gather for a powhiri (formal welcoming ceremony) to be followed by an introduction to bi-cultural Aotearoa New Zealand as represented by the Treaty of Waitangi, the colonial nation's founding document. Each group will then introduce their members and present their research projects, topics and questions, and will discuss their ideas for the fieldwork. Days two through four will be spent in the field. Participants will reconvene on the last two days to present their findings in a series of talks and performances, culminating in a closing event at the end of the sixth day.
In its insularity and isolation as what developed from a European outpost in the South Pacific, New Zealand offers performance studies scholars and artists an environment which in many ways simulates the conditions necessary for a controlled experiment and which lends itself to successful first-glance observation. Not only does New Zealand concentrate the most diverse landscapes in a small area, but it is also known for its radical socio-political experiments – from the first vote for women to the more recent brand of economic libertarianism. Its post-colonial situation has the unusual variant of a colonial treaty of the British colonisers with the indigenous Maori, which has now become a blueprint for a desired bicultural society.
Participants are invited to see their own performance research interests reflected, or perhaps distorted, in the New Zealand context. They will be able to use their experiences at PSi2003 to consider their ongoing projects from a different angle, to find a counterpoint to the knowledges they are already building, and to invent new ways of coming to understand and express ideas about performance. It is anticipated that papers resulting from the event will be published as conference proceedings, and that some creative work might emerge as a result of the journeys taken.

Schedule

- Saturday, 6 April 2003
Delegates arrive in Christchurch
Registration
- Sunday, 7 April 2003
Hui and plenary at Nga Hau E Wha Marare
Tour & hangi (traditional Maori dinner)
“A Night of Maori Magic” (performance)
- Monday - Wednesday, 8-10 April 2003
Field stations
- Thursday – Friday, 11-12 April 2003
Symposium: presentations and performances
Business meetings
- Friday, 12 April 2003
Dinner & closing ceremonies
- Saturday, April 13 2003
Delegates leave Christchurch

Field Stations
You may send a brief outline of your concept, interests and ideas, including information which you believe will be relevant for developing an itinerary for the field station.
Proposals may be submitted by email (admin@psi9.canterbury.ac.nz) or fax (64-3-364-2773). We should receive your proposal for a specific field station by 15th November 2002 for your ideas to be considered. Each group will have a New Zealand and an international leader to work as collaborators in developing the concept for the field station, devising an itinerary for the three days in the field and, with the assistance of the conference committee, building the groups from the remaining pool of inquiries and proposals.
Following is a preliminary list of field stations and leaders. We are in the process of confirming participation in specific groups for those who have already indicated their interests and will be posting updated group lists regularly. If you would like to join an existing group, or would like our assistance in finding a group to suit your interests, please let us know by 20 January 2003.

Gourmet Tour
Richard Till (University of Canterbury)
Richard Gough (Centre for Performance Research)

Lord of the Rings
Alan Wright (University of Canterbury)
Henry Bial (University of New Mexico)

The Ice
Mike Pearson (University of Wales)
Wendy Lawson (University of Canterbury)

Tangible Heritage: Museums, Heritage Trails and Heritage Sites
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (NYU)
Karen Nero (MacMillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies)

Toy Theatre
John Bell (Emerson College)
Sharon Mazer (University of Canterbury)

Sonic Nowhere: Experimental Music
Roy Montgomery (Lincoln University)
Victoria Singh (The Western Front)

Circle Mapping
Adam Hayward (Creation, Christchurch)
Ute Ritschel (Zentrum für Performance Studies)

The Land: Mapping & Whakapapa
Peggy Phelan (Stanford University)
Dolina Wehipeihana (Atamira Dance Collective)

Maori Performance
Te Rita Papesch (University of Canterbury)

Gold and Pounamou
Laurie Beth Clark (University of Wisconsin)
Mike Peterson (University of Wisconsin)
Michael Adams (University of Canterbury)

Wildlife
Una Chaudhuri (NYU)
Bert van Dijk (Wellington)

Colonial Macho (Wo)men and Adventure Sports
Greta Bond (University of Canterbury)

Erewhon
John Downie (Victoria University)
Carole Bellini-Sharp (Hamilton College)

(Post)colonial Shakespeare
Robin Bond (University of Canterbury)

Drag Performance
Moe Meyer (University of New South Wales)
Michael Adams (University of Canterbury)

 

The Performance Studies Conference was originally launched by the Department of Performance Studies at New York University in 1995, and was subsequently hosted by:
* Northwestern University (1996)
* Georgia Institute of Technology (1997)
* City University of New York (1998)
* Centre for Performance Research (1999)
* Arizona State University (2000)
* Johannes Guttenberg University, Mainz (2001)
* New York University (2002)
In its eight years of existence, the conference has gained a reputation for staging gatherings that attract a wide range of scholars and artists working in the field of performance. It has become internationally renowned for creating an opportunity for dialogue among artists and academics in a variety of disciplines whose concerns converge in the still-evolving areas of performance research and practice. Its successful coalition of the diverse field of performance studies has resulted in the formation of the worldwide membership association, Performance Studies international, under whose auspices the conference is now organised.
PSi10 – “Perform. State. Interrogate.” – will be in Singapore, 15-18 June 2004.

Membership Information
Performance Studies International (PSi) is a professional association founded in 1997 to promote communication and exchange among scholars and practitioners working in the field of performance. PSi seeks to create opportunities for dialogue among artists and academics in a variety of disciplines whose concerns converge in the still-evolving areas of live art and performance.PSi is actively committed to creating a membership base of artists and scholars from throughout the world. We recognise that while performance studies as a field encourages conversations across disciplinary boundaries, professionals in various parts of the world often wish for greater opportunities to exchange research and information about performance with others who share their interests and expertise. PSi is a network of exchange for scholars and practitioners working in diverse locations, both disciplinary and geographic.

For more information on PSi, please contact the PSi office < www.psi-web.org>.
PSi9 Contact
Michael Adams
Project Manager
admin@psi9.canterbury.ac.nz