The Many and the Form - reflection and reference materials by Edit Kaldor

Reflection text and reference materials of the research project The Many and the Form by Edit Kaldor An account and reflection of the processes, phases and outcomes of the research project The Many and the Form, which explored in different contexts how lived experiences can be articulated in and through live performance. The text brings together the various strands within the research and some of the underlying connections between the different components. It aims to communicate about practices and provide insights that can be useful for those who are interested in contemporary theatre making, participation and social imaginaries, as well as for those who have or are curious about immigrant experiences and knowledges. Reference and documentation materials created as part of the research: - Digital online archive Inventory of Powerlessness To accesss, click on http://inventoryofpowerlessness.org/ Interactive digital online archive that was made as part of the research, processing the accounts of lived experiences of 300 participants in the long-term theatre work that preceded and prompted this research project. As part of the preparation for the workshops I wanted to gather and organize these stories in a sharable format which reflected the processes within the performance project. It was important for the current research because it gave me a chance to touch base with its core motivation for creating working methods that allow people to translate lived experiences into live performative situations. Revisiting and reworking the range of experiences that were articulated during the Inventory not only recalled the particular context and the sense of purpose that the research originated in, but also the kinds of procedures I was working with in the Inventory, some of which served as basis for the working methods I have been developing during this research, which were shared in a range of workshops. I collaborated on the archive with dramaturg intern Joseph Anderson, theatre maker Jurrien van Rheenen and computer programmer Joris Favie. The work consisted of bringing together recorded materials, transcribing them, translating them from one of the five original languages (Dutch, German, Polish, Czech, Greek), making a single version that most closely reflected the different oral versions, and placing them into the digital archive with the connections and categories. The online archive is an important reference for the research project, as it situates the research in terms of the kinds of lived knowledges that it aims to bring into performance-making. - Edited video documentation of workshop Ghost in the Machine, December 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAxdAD4kEv4&t=1429s The video gives an idea of the new strand of the research within the project after Covid made physical presence workshops impossible and the focus of my investigation shifted to exploring situations of digital intimacy and presence through moblie devices. This strand of the research led to the development of the site-specific interactive performance Parallel Life, one of the practical outcomes of The Many and the Form. Although it’s a short, edited version of a longer series of workshops, the video gives a glimpse of the practice-oriented working processes typical for my workshops.

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Edit Kaldor - The Many and the Form - reflection and reference materials - 2023