Center for Performance Studies Events


UCLA TAPS Graduate Conference
Contact: Performing Proximity
Feb. 19-21, 2021

 

Contact Banner

 

Join us to explore the theme of "Contact" with our keynote speakers,
graduate student panels, and featured perfomances.

 

From its Latin roots, contact describes encounters facilitated by and through touching (con-tactus). In an increasingly globalized and mediatized world, touch between audience and performer, the human and non-human, the material and the virtual, the past and the present, all evoke explorations of how contact is shaping and is shaped by performance, both within the everyday and the aesthetic realm. From the #MeToo movement to the rise in global protest following the murder of George Floyd, from the increased detention of immigrants to the COVID-19 pandemic and its myriad repercussions, contact reverberates with possibilities for connection, violence, reconciliation, and desire.

 

Register for Events Below

 

View the Full Conference Program (PDF)

 

Join the “Let's Be in Touch” Project

Lets be in touch

 

Explore contact by participating in the "Let's Be in Touch" project, a durational analog performance.
Sign up and receive a piece of mail crafted by artists Elizabeth Schiffler and Sarah Guilbault.
Learn more and sign up below. Sign Ups Close Feb. 6th.

 

Info and Sign Up

 

Conference Schedule

 

Friday, Feb. 19th

 

NOTE ON REGISTRATION: Registration is free and open to the public. Please register individually for each online event to receive the web links via email. Please note that all events are in Pacific Standard Time (PST).

For any issues and technical sign-up problems please contact Crystal Santana at csantana@tft.ucla.edu

Opening remarks

10:00-11:45am PST

Opening Remarks & Graduate Panel:
Digital Touch: Technology, Performance, & (Dis)Embodiment

Panelists: Suzahn Ebrahimian, Adin Walker, Henry Neim Osman, Angela Pinholster

Register for the Zoom Meeting Here

Working session

12:00-1:30pm PST

Working Sessions *

  • “The Body as Interface: Co-presence, Intimacy, and Embodiment” led by Prof. Sarah Bay-Cheng (contact Devon Baur)
  • “Art/History, Identities, and (Per)forming Place” led by GLAM Collective (contact Clara Wilch)
  • “Race, Embodiment, and Historiography” led by Prof. Daphne Brooks (contact Danielle Howard)
  • “Performance as Practice and Research” led by Profs. Sylvan Oswald & Marike Splint (contact Guillermo Aviles Rodriguez)

  • “Human Migration & Identification in Performance” led by Prof. Summer Lee Kim (contact Yun-Pu Yang)
  • “Unsettling Matter(s)” led by Prof. Anurima Banerji (contact Sarah Lewis)

*to observe a working session, please contact the Session Facilitator listed

Opening remarks

1:45-2:45pm PST

Interactive Workshop:
Access-Centered Dance Improvisation for Lovers Alone: Special Edition - Un/Stable Connections and Close Contact of the Virtual Kind

hosted by Neve

Register for the Zoom Meeting Here

Opening remarks

3:00-4:30pm PST

Keynote Address:
G.L.A.M Collective

(Dr. Heather Igloliorte, Dr. Julie Nagam, Dr. Carla Taunton)

Register for the Keynote Here (3:00 - 4:00)
Register for the Q&A Here (4:00 - 4:30)

Saturday, Feb. 20th

 

NOTE ON REGISTRATION: Registration is free and open to the public. Please register individually for each online event to receive the web links via email. Please note that all events are in Pacific Standard Time (PST).

For any issues and technical sign-up problems please contact Crystal Santana at csantana@tft.ucla.edu

Opening remarks

10:00-11:30am PST

Keynote Address:
Prof. Sarah Bay-Cheng
York University

Register for the Keynote Here (10:00 - 11:00)
Register for the Q&A Here (11:00 - 11:30)

Opening remarks

11:45am-1:15pm PST

Graduate Panel:
Performing Citizenship, Protest, and Penalty

Panelists: Madison House-Tuck, Marisa Plascencia,
Zach Loeffler, Zachary Easterling

Register for the Zoom Meeting Here

Opening remarks

1:45-3:15pm PST

Graduate Panel:
Transnational Contact: Shaping Contested Categories and Relationality through Performance

Panelists: GJ Sevillano, Mona Merhi,
Patricia Gomes, Christina Novakov-Ritchey

Register for the Zoom Meeting Here

Working session

3:30-5:00pm PST

Working Sessions *

  • “Framing Touch: Queer Proximities & Performance” led by Prof. Joshua Guzmán (contact Elizabeth Schiffler)

*to observe a working session, please contact the Session Facilitator listed

Opening remarks

6:00-6:30pm PST

Featured Performance:
"The Party to End All Parties"

by ANU Productions

You can join the performance at this link, which must be joined via a computer: https://ohyay.co/s/cpsgrad

Sunday, Feb. 21st

 

NOTE ON REGISTRATION: Registration is free and open to the public. Please register individually for each online event to receive the web links via email. Please note that all events are in Pacific Standard Time (PST).

For any issues and technical sign-up problems please contact Crystal Santana at csantana@tft.ucla.edu

Opening remarks

10:00-11:30am PST

Keynote Address:
Prof. Daphne A. Brooks
Yale University

Register for the Keynote Here (10:00 - 11:00)
Register for the Q&A Here (11:00 - 11:30)

Opening remarks

11:45am-12:45pm PST

Artist Talkback:
"The Party to End All Parties"

with Louise Lowe (Director) and Lynnette Moran (Producer)

Register for the Zoom Meeting Here

Opening remarks

12:45-1:30pm PST

The "Let's Be in Touch" Project & Closing Remarks

Register for the Zoom Meeting Here

 

Contact Us

 

 

 

CONFERENCE STEERING COMMITTEE:

Carla Neuss (PhD Candidate)
Farrah O’Shea (PhD Candidate)
Jenna Tamimi (Postdoctoral Scholar - Lewis and Clark College)
Clara Wilch (PhD Candidate)