On Gesture
Project Team
Darren Berkland
Project Objectives
The project aims to open research avenues around the topic of gesture and gesturality, in order to explore their role in the emerging postdigital landscape. Drawing upon the ongoing research developed by the organisers, this project comprises a series of research seminars that approach a number of elements that articulate the overarching structure of the project. More specifically, they are:
- The inputs from a variety of disciplinary fields, all exploring the idea of gesture;
- The methods employed to explore gesture across academic fields and artistic practices;
- A number of key concepts emerging in association with gesture and the most established literature around it.
Following these elements, the project is structured in three phases. The first phase of focuses on Approaches & Questions and culminates with a first open and free event, whose main objective is to create a platform for exchange revolving around the key concepts, issues and texts describing and analysing the idea of gesture at large. We want this to be a truly explorative moment, it is of vital importance to bring together the contributions from within CPC and Coventry University, and a set of external, interdisciplinary voices on the matter. We believe this is key to initiate a fruitful dialogue leading to the identification of key areas of interest, which can potentially serve as shared interests to be further explored in future projects and collaborations.
The second phase of the project focuses on Sites & Practices and culminates with a second research event that aims to put into practice the theoretical questions discussed in the first phase of the project by exploring how to best apply the emerging methodologies.
The third and final phase of the project ties together the previous two and reshuffles the key points which emerged and were discussed transferring them onto the level of creative and cultural production. This phase will have with a particular focus on Forms & Aesthetics.
As of October 2019, phase one of the project has produced an interdisciplinary research day that has created a space for fertile discussion on gesture through a variety of disciplines and subject-areas without settling on any one specific definition or formulation of the topic. Rather, the multifaceted interest around the idea of gesture and gesturality was kept unfettered and aimed to extend and complexify the vocabulary surrounding gesture as opposed to tying it down to a single characterisation.
