Performance Philosophy & Animals: Towards a Radical Equality

The aim of this project is to transform our understanding of the relationships between performance, philosophy and animals. Recent years have seen an exciting surge of interest in the potential for mutually beneficial interactions between performance and philosophy - from innovative collaborations between prominent philosophers and performance-makers, to the rapid growth of a new field of international research and creative practice called "Performance Philosophy". This project suggests that the radical potential of this emerging field lies in its capacity to challenge the hierarchies between the arts and other forms of thought and to act as a pioneer in achieving greater equality in how we produce knowledge, with a particular focus on what performance-based research might contribute to our understanding of nonhuman animals. Building on the Fellow's past role as a central figure in developing Performance Philosophy, this project will help the new field to realise its potential by bringing together insights from cutting-edge performance practice and the work of French thinker, François Laruelle - now widely acknowledged as one of the most significant European philosophers working today. He proposes a radical equality between all forms of thought - even to the extent of no longer seeing the 'love of wisdom' (philo-sophia) as exclusive to the human or Homo sapiens (the 'wise man'). Consequently, whilst mainstream debate around equality often focuses on the idea of a universal humanity, this project turns its attention to the thought of nonhuman animals in order to perform a radical extension of the idea of equality itself: animals being those 'others' most like 'us' who are nonetheless not 'us'. The project aims to advance our thinking about how performance, philosophy and animals interact by investigating how performance might transform philosophy and how our concepts of performance and equality might be transformed by the animal, using a unique 'performance philosophy' methodology combining in-depth philosophical scholarship with 2 core case study collaborations with the critically acclaimed performance companies: the Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, Fevered Sleep and the influential US-based company, Every house has a door, both of whom are developing projects on animals and performance. The Fellowship will produce the first monograph dedicated to Performance Philosophy as a field and methodology. During the 20-month project, the Fellow will work with Fevered Sleep and Every house has a door to create 2 new performances. Hosted by the University of Surrey Vet School, she will collaborate with Fevered Sleep to produce a new version of "Sheep Pig Goat": a project that raises questions about the differences between how humans see animals and how they 'really' are by inviting audiences to witness a series of improvised encounters between human performers and sheep, pigs and goats. With Every house has a door and 4 local school children, she will co-create "Carnival of the Animals" - a new piece using performance to investigate the idea of interspecies communication. Both new works will provide local school children and wider publics with access to boundary-pushing arts practices using performance to produce new knowledge about the nature of our relationship to animals - an increasingly pressing issue in this age of ecological crisis. The project culminates in a major public event held at the ICA in central London which locates exciting new parallels in recent impulses in artistic and philosophical production: a shared ambition to address hierarchies between forms of thought and the unequal value assigned to different ways of knowing. Creating an innovative format combining participatory workshops, walks and listening sessions, the ICA event will address the theme of 'radical equality' in a broad sense - exploring the deep entanglement of contemporary oppressions including speciesism, racism and sexism.

This project aims to have an impact on a network of publics by encouraging them to critically reflect on the relationships between performance, philosophy and animals. This project is motivated by three main impact goals: i) to promote the understanding of performance as an important site of knowledge and critical thinking; ii) to change people's perception of nonhuman animals and contribute to positive ethical change around attitudes and behaviour in relation to nonhuman animals; and iii) to advance greater degrees of accessibility and inclusion within the arts and research.

The project will achieve this impact by building on the established relationships of an exceptionally strong team of public engagement partners including: the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), Fevered Sleep, Every house has a door, the Forum for European Philosophy, Improbable and Independent Dance. The principal beneficiaries of the project encompass a variety of non-academic communities: artists and other professionals in the creative industries (eg. producers, curators); local schools; vets and other animal professionals; county arts organisations and other policy-shaping organisations in arts and cultural learning; charities promoting both public engagement in philosophy and animal advocacy; and communities of interest within the general public - locally, nationally and internationally - including arts, philosophy and animal enthusiasts, as well as those concerned with equality from a range of social justice perspectives. The project will create a rich and diverse programme of public activities integrated into and conducted through the life of the project, along with a series of high-quality public outputs including: two new works of performance concerned with human-animal relationships by leading companies Fevered Sleep and Every house has a door in collaboration with the Fellow, a major public event at the ICA in central London, an interactive website and short film. Co-created by the Fellow with BAFTA-winning film director, Abi Weaver, the short film expressing the findings of the research will be aimed at a wide and diverse public both in the UK and internationally.

Through the collaboration with Guildford Grove Primary School, the Fellow will ensure that the project will have a tangible educational impact - offering pupil groups with both language deprivation and limited access to the arts the chance to engage with professional performance companies as participants and audiences in ways that will support their creative development and wider learning.

The project will benefit the cultural sector through the opportunities it affords and value it adds through its collaborations with artists, arts professionals and arts organisations. Project partner, the ICA will co-curate with the Fellow and PDRA, a two-day public event including contributions from the core case study companies, international artists, leading animal philosopher Vinciane Despret and performance scholar Fred Moten. The event will be curated with two key aims: firstly, to have a significant impact on audiences' understanding of the relationship between the arts and other forms of knowledge, on their perception of the nature of human-animal relationships, and on their sense of how questions of animal equality might intersect with those of gender and race. Secondly, the Fellow and curators have agreed to use the event as an opportunity to advance the ICA's institutional knowledge on questions of access and inclusion, ensuring that the event is accessible to as diverse an audience as possible, by engaging a dedicated access consultant. The event will also form the basis of a longer-term relationship between the Fellow, her collaborators and the ICA with a view to continuing a joint investigation of the relationships between performance, philosophy and the question of equality.