Towards a Ludic Ecology: Popular Participatory Peripatetic Performance

This practice-as-research project investigates the interrelations between performance, playfulness, and ecology, highlighting these as constituting an important nexus of study in the current ecological context. I explore ways of performatively facilitating ludic interactions between people and their environments, investigate what benefits might accrue from doing so, examine the structure and significance of these interactions, and consider the role of performance training in their facilitation. Conducting practice-as-research ‘in the wild’ (cf. Hutchins, 1995) provides a unique and valuable perspective from which to interrogate current and historical thinking regarding play. The rigorous supporting rationale provided suggests potential areas of impact and value for the practice beyond the performances themselves. The qualitative evidence presented supports my argument that ludic (playful) performance can positively recalibrate participants’ environmental attitudes and relations. In order to conduct this practical inquiry, I reflexively develop an original methodology: Popular Participatory Peripatetic Performance, or 4P for short. I fully integrate playfulness into three replicable models of practice, derived from 4P, each employing a different modality of peripatetic performance. They are: Perplexpedition – an intervention in public space; Wandercast – an audio-walk podcast; and Spinstallation – a performance workshop. Each of these forms a dynamic and responsive live artwork, enacted and documented in numerous iterations, which allows for reflexive development of the models themselves as well as the overarching 4P methodology; each constitutes research process and outcome. My aim in devising this tripartite approach has been to achieve significant comprehensiveness and also to render the project accessible and attractive to as wide a variety of participants as possible, thereby maximising its validity and the generalisability of its findings. Ecology is formulated here in line with Gregory Bateson’s “ecology of mind” ([1972] 2000: xxiii), which seeks a holistic understanding of living systems through the recognition of far-reaching patterns and formal regularities. This project builds upon Bateson’s notion that play constitutes one such pattern to develop the conceptual framework and practical approach that I term ludic ecology. I also employ James J. Gibson’s (1979) concept of affordance and draw on Baz Kershaw’s (2007) ecological approach to performance studies, using them interdependently to structure and support this project from both practical and theoretical perspectives. This project contributes primarily to three fields: ecological performance, through an original methodology and modes of practice; practice-as-research, through a novel theoretical stance and documentation techniques; and play-studies, by refining a distinction between play and playfulness and elucidating their philosophical status. This writing aims to clarify these contributions and thus position the project as “praxis” not only as “theory imbricated within practice” (Nelson, 2013: 5), but also practice imbricated within theory

Towards a Ludic Ecology: Popular Participatory Peripatetic Performance: digital practice component of Robbie Zachariah Wilson's Practice-as-Research PhD

From a research perspective, the files contained here should be engaged with in conjunction with the written component of the author's PhD thesis, which can be accessed through the Kent Academic Repository (KAR), as together they form the practice-as-research thesis. This media content can only be fully understood as research material in conjunction with the written component, which you will find here https://kar.kent.ac.uk/69349/ Similarly, the written document can only be fully understood in conjunction with the content contained in this media library. The contents of this media library constitute artworks in their own right - please feel free to engage with the collection on this basis. However, in order to understand the research significance of the media library's contents, please also read the written component of the thesis. Please refer to the 'Preface: Guide to this Thesis' section and Introduction chapter of the written component for information regarding the relationship between the written and media content. This Project Media Library (PML) is organised into three folders, one for each of the three strands of practice. Each strand's folder contains sub-folders that, in turn, contain the various types of digital practice and documentation. The three strands of practice (and titles of the three main folders) are: · Perplexpedition – spontaneous, quick-fire, loosely-structured encounters between small groups and their immediate environment. I employ video editing to creatively analyse and interpret what is happening whilst sending myself up, thereby establishing the practice’s particular aesthetic. · Wandercast – an interactive audio-walk podcast series that invites listeners to playfully engage with and reimagine their environment. For the full experience, download the podcast episodes and listen while going on a wander. You can also find the podcast by searching for 'Ludicrous Pilgrim' on iTunes. · Spinstallation – workshops in which participants’ playful actions turn their environment into a found installation. I set the participants playful tasks in small groups and ask them to document their activities collaboratively on video. The titles and contents of the sub-folders should be self-explanatory. Throughout the written component of the thesis (https://kar.kent.ac.uk/69349/), I make reference to particular contents of the PML. To aid navigation and retrieval, these references reflect the folder/sub-folder structure of the PML and appear in the following format (PML\Name of Strand & Type of Media\Name of File). For example, a reference to Wandercast Ep.1 - Welcome to the World of Wandercast appears thus: (PML\Wandercast Episodes\Ep.1 Welcome to the World of Wandercast)