Extending non-professional performative projects: integrating research-through performance

Abstract

In educational settings, non-professional performative projects have been used as a tool to help participants gain insights and valuable knowledge. Likewise, post-graduate professionals engage in research-through-practice, using reflective techniques in an investigative inquiry of performance, searching for knowledge and a more profound understanding of the processes at play from a creative performative perspective. So how can participants benefit from non-professional projects? What gains can be made through combining research-through-practice with non-professional performa- tive endeavors? What specific methods and techniques can be useful in developing awareness and experiential knowledge?

At the University of Navarra (Spain), Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura y Di- seño (ETSAUN), Dr. Sef Hermans and Dr. Juan Luis Roquette worked with 36 fourth-year Design students in his class, “Scenography, a Creative and Performative Guide to Performance and Stage Design.” In small groups, students designed and per- formed their own modern scenography based on 19th century operas in a performative trailer. Alongside the benefits of collaborative experience, the class allowed students to explore aspects of design from a performative perspective.

In this chapter, we consider potential benefits of such endeavors. Participants of Dr. Hermans’ class and other non-professional performative projects reported a variety of learning outcomes. Assessed aside research-through-practice investigations, we show how these non-professional performative programs may extend student experiences by integrating research-through-practice techniques.