477 research outputs found
Seminar: "The Primacy of Movement - An Encounter with Maxine Sheets- Johnstone"
No full textAdvanced research seminar on the primacy of movement in the development of human consciousness, thought and language, with Maxine Sheets-Johnstone (University of Oregon, USA), author of the volume "The Primacy of Movement", in the series "Advances in Consciousness Research, John Benjamins Publishing Company (1999), for the Theory of Science Forum, Department of Philosophy, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
The spontaneity drain: the social pressures that shaped and then exiled Keith Johnstone's improvisation
No full textKeith Johnstone’s Improvisation had an oppositional relationship to the social and historical conditions of 1950s Britain under which it developed. Its structure and performative dynamic were protests against the normalising forces exerted by the social elite upon the broader population and by civilised society upon the individual. Within this context, the Royal Court Theatre acted as an incubator that allowed Johnstone to develop his subversive theories of performance, drawing on elements of professional wrestling to break down the regimented conventions of the theatre space and enliven the spectator-performer relationship. Eventually Johnstone entered a self-imposed exile from the society that shaped this form of performance and established The Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, Canada.
This paper will analyse three relationships vital to this narrative: The oppositional reaction of Johnstone's improvisation to the social pressures of 1950's Britain, the creative glasshouse that The Royal Court Theatre provided for Johnstone within this broader cultural context, and the effects that the new social situation of Calgary, Canada had on Johnstone's practice.
At the conclusion of the paper I will draw out the consequences of these analyses for contemporary British society and attempt to identify the normalising forces at work within this context, how our arts institutions and creative incubators might foster novel reactions to these pressures, and how public policy might be shaped in order to encourage artists to remain in Britain so that we might benefit from their continued contribution to our cultural discourses
The censor without, the censor within: the resistance of Johnstone’s improv to the social and political pressures of 1950s Britain
No full textKeith Johnstone's improv, popularly known through the Theatresports format, was forged in the cultural and historical context of 1950s Britain. In this paper I will argue that Johnstone's incarnation of theatrical improvisation was defined by its reaction to the normalising forces exerted by the social elite upon the broader population and by civilised society upon the individual.
Johnstone's improv was a reaction against the Lord Chamberlain’s power to censor the British stage and a challenge to the internalised 'censor' British society of the time implanted in the minds of his students, stunting their creative imaginations. Johnstone borrowed elements of professional wrestling to break down the regimented conventions of the theatre space and enliven the spectator-performer relationship. As well as echoing Roland Barthes’ idealistic analysis of professional wrestling (Barthes, 1984: n.p.), Johnstone’s improv shares Barthes’ critique of the authority of the author and allows meaning to be generated out of the encounter between performers and spectators in the instant of the performance’s emergence. Through these processes, Johnstone’s improv defies the censor without (The Lord Chamberlain) by rooting out the censor within (the socially learnt inhibitions to the creative imagination).
By delineating the political and social pressures at play in the historical context of 1950s Britain and the ways that the stylistic conventions of Johnstone's improv resist and subvert these forces, I will demonstrate the emancipatory power latent in this mode of popular performance. This is a particularly timely analysis given the increasing authority of free market economics to dictate what appears on contemporary British stages, and the internalised censor that panoptical CCTV and social media is implanting within the minds of British citizens today
Anthony McCall: Notebooks and Conversations
No full textCharting the development of the studio practice of New York based artist Anthony McCall (b.1946), this publication features facsimile reproductions of pages from McCall's extensive archive of notebooks, which are supported by production scores and installation photographs. It was formed out of a series of discussions that took place over the last decade between McCall and the artists Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone.
Anthony McCall is known for his ‘solid-light’ installations, a series that he began in 1973 with his seminal Line Describing a Cone, in which a volumetric form composed of projected light slowly evolves in three-dimensional space. Since creating this ground-breaking piece, McCall has had work exhibited at museums and galleries throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate; Whitney Museum of American Art; Serpentine Gallery; Centre Pompidou; Moderna Museet, Stockholm and Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin.
Examining McCall's work of the 1970s and the pieces developed since his return to making art in 2003, the conversations explore McCall's over-riding preoccupations as an artist whose work occupies a space between sculpture, cinema and drawing. In doing so, the book also narrates how McCall has transformed the way he understands his own practice, particularly in relation to notions of performance, the body, projected installation, durational structure and spectatorship.
Emphasising both the continuities and shifts in McCall's working methods in the studio over the last 40 years, Anthony McCall: Notebooks and Conversations presents unique insights into his extraordinary body of work.Contents: Introduction: Thinking in notebook form, Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone; Conversations - Tate Britain, London;10 September 2004; Centre Georges Pompidou, La Maison Rouge, Paris; 5 October 2004; Anthony McCall Studio, New York; 3 March 2005; Ellard and Johnstone Studio, London; 25 March 2006; Ellard and Johnstone Studio, London; 20 March 2011; Gallerie Martine Aboucaya, Paris; 22 October 2013; Flims; Performances; Slide works; Chronological list of notebooks; Biographies.About the Author: Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone have collaborated since 1993. Their large-scale video installations and 16mm films, concerned with the parallels between film and architecture, have been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally, including Tate Liverpool; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Centre Pompidou; the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen; The Aichi Triennale, Nagoya and Tate Britain. Graham Ellard is Professor of Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. Stephen Johnstone is Professor of Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London.Reviews: 'The handsome volume Anthony McCall: Notebooks and Conversations ... is the kind of book that will increase in importance to students of art and art history over time ... it is the kind of invaluable document that will help us access his [McCall's] artworks in their own terms far into the future.' Jarrett Earnest, The Brooklyn Rail
'...this compendium offers readers a fascinating insight into the working methods and thought processes of this groundbreaking British artist...Illuminating.' StateF22Co-publisher: Published by Lund Humphries in association with Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerlan
Keith Johnstone
No full textKeith Johnstone entered the Royal Court Theatre as a new playwright in 1956: a decade later he emerged as a groundbreaking director and teacher of improvisation. His decisive book Impro (1979), described Johnstone’s unique system of training: weaving together theories and techniques to encourage spontaneous, collaborative creation using the intuition and imagination of the actors. Johnstone has since become world-renowned, inspiring theatre greats and beginners alike; and his work continues to influence practice within and beyond the traditional theatre.
Theresa Robbins Dudeck is the first author to rigorously examine Johnstone's life and career using a combination of archival documents – many from Johnstone's personal collection – participant observation, and interviews with Johnstone, his colleagues and former students.
Keith Johnstone: A Critical Biography is a fascinating journey through the physical spaces that have served as Johnstone's transformative classrooms, and into the conceptual spaces which inform his radical pedagogy and approach to artistic work.</JATS1:p
Variations on the bagdomain theme
No full textAbstractThe notion of bagdomain was first introduced by Vickers, (1992) and further studied by the present author in (Johnstone, 1992). In these papers, attention was focused on one particular version of the bagdomain construction, the “bag” analogue of the lower (Hoare) powerdomain; but there are many other possibilities. The purpose of the present paper is to introduce some of these possibilities and to describe their basic properties, using the theory of fibrations and partial products developed in (Johnstone, 1993)
Can mobile phones enhance refugees' integration? : a South African perspective
No full textSupervisor: K.A. Johnstone
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-56)
Mapping and modelling the population and habitat of the roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus langheldi) in Ruma National Park, Kenya
No full textPhD ThesisWildlife-based tourism, which is Kenya’s second largest economic sector, is threatened by the risk of extinction of many wildlife species in the country. The endemic roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus langheldi) now only survives in Ruma National Park (RNP) where its population has been declining continuously since 1976. This thesis investigates the roan’s habitat use and selection, causes of population decline and population viability in RNP with the aim of recommending scientifically-based management interventions for population recovery and sustainable conservation.
Roan movement patterns and habitat use were investigated using 4 home range estimation techniques. Habitat selection was studied at multi-spatial scales using compositional analysis, logistic regression, and information-theoretic (IT) and multi-model inference (MMI) techniques. Data for this study consisted of population estimates for roans and other grazers, Landsat images, soil maps, digital terrain data, rainfall records, snare distribution records, and roan ground tracking data. Identification of causes of population decline was carried out using both multivariate and univariate techniques. A generic population viability analysis (PVA) package was used to (i) estimate the likelihood of roan extinction under various management options; and (2) rank the management alternatives for roan population recovery.
All 4 home range estimators are useful in characterizing different aspects of the roan home range, but overall the local convex hull method produced the most realistic home ranges. The three habitat selection methods yielded similar results but the IT techniques demonstrated superior qualities as they identified important habitat variables and produced the most accurate model predictions. MMI averaged models coupled with GIS data developed very informative habitat suitability and poaching risk maps. Analysis of habitat selection indicated different usage in
seasons and spatial scales depending on water availability, habitat composition and burned status, and distribution of eco-geographical features. High adult mortality due to poaching with snares was identified as the main cause of roan population decline. Other important factors included habitat change and rainfall variability with its associated droughts and floods. PVA showed that under the current conditions, the roan population cannot persist more than 3 decades. Several anti-poaching and prioritized management interventions to curb poaching and promote population recovery are described.Commonwealth Scholarship Commission
Poems and lyrics; with a memoir of the author.
No full textMemoir by Mrs. Johnstone: p. [23]-85.Mode of access: Internet
Population Viability Analysis of the Endangered Roan Antelope in Ruma National Park, Kenya, and Implications for Management
No full textPopulation viability analysis (PVA) was used to (1) establish causes of roan population decline for the past 30 years in Ruma National Park (RNP), the only park where wild roans remain in Kenya, and (2) predict the probability of roan persistence under existing and alternative management options. PVA was done using long-term data based on population dynamics, life history, climatic conditions, and expert knowledge. Poaching was identified as the main cause of roan decline in RNP. Several antipoaching and prioritized habitat management interventions to promote population recovery and sustainable conservation of roans are described. PVA predictions indicated that, without these interventions, the roan population cannot persist more than 3 decades. Furthermore, ensuring sustainable conservation of roans in RNP will boost tourism in Western Kenyan and thus alleviate poverty in this part of the country. Improved income from tourism will reduce the possible pressures from hunting and give greater incentives for local people to be actively engaged in roan conservation
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