Overview
The Provocations Project involves a series of open calls for provocations to spur dialogue regarding differences that matter within and between cultures of research in the arts, humanities, and sciences. Once launched, these calls remain open indefinitely, inviting contributions on a rolling basis to iteratively (re)configure the contours of emergent discourse. All provocations are posted online, and everyone who submits a provocation is invited to join in conversation with other provocateurs through our online community, as well as curated video conversations and roundtable discussions.
Spanning its multiple iterations since 2018, the Provocations Project aims to hold space for generative exchange around novel and systemic conditions that affect cross-disciplinary and collaborative practices. The project is not specific to any one discipline, topic, or community, and yet each question posed as part of the project becomes situated through its resonance in a particular context.
Open Calls for Provocations
To date, the Provocations Project has launched calls for provocations on the following questions:
- What escapes computation in interactive performance?
- What aspects of your practice/research are invisible to your collaborators?
- How is your research embodied?
Click on the questions above to visit the main site for each. These sites host the growing collection of provocations, as well as curated video conversations between provocateurs. Additionally, on each site you can read the full abstract and find details about how to submit your own provocation. Provocations are welcome anytime, and new prompts for provocations are forthcoming.
Iterations of the Provocations Project
PROVOCATIONS @ DANCE & SOMATIC PRACTICES CONFERENCE 2023
Building from the collection of provocations posted online, we will convene a hybrid online/onsite Roundtable Discussion at the Dance and Somatic Practices Conference on July 14, 2023 from 14:30-16:30. The OPEN CALL for provocations is open until July 10, 2023, with an earlier deadline for panelists of June 28, 2023. Read more and submit at: https://www.provocations.online/researchembodiment/
PROVOCATIONS @ SLOMOCO 2021
In the context of SloMoCo 2021, Teoma Naccarato, John MacCallum, and Jessica Rajko invited contributors to revisit the entire pool of provocations from 2018 and 2019, and facilitated a series of video conversations between provocateurs on each key question. The goal of these exchanges was to draw out generative tension in authorial, disciplinary, and cultural perspectives. Documentation from this year-long event has been integrated into the websites for each Open Call above.
PROVOCATIONS @ MOCO 2019
At MOCO 2019, Naccarato and MacCallum teamed up with Jessica Rajko to launch a second call for provocations, seeking responses to the question: what aspects of your practice are (in)visible to your collaborators? Drawing from this new pool of provocations, five ‘provocateurs’ were invited to take part in a roundtable discussion on the theme of generative tension in cross-disciplinary collaboration. All events related the Provocations Project at MOCO 2019 are documented at: https://moco19.provocations.online.
PROVOCATIONS @ MOCO 2018
The Provocations Project was launched in 2018 by Teoma Naccarato and John MacCallum in the context of the Conference on Movement and Computing (MOCO) in Genoa, Italy. This iteration of the Provocations Project focussed on the question of: what escapes computation in interactive performance? In addition to the sharing of provocations at the conference and online, eight ‘provocateurs’ were invited to take part in a roundtable discussion, drawing on their provocations as a starting point for generative discourse and exchange. All events related the Provocations Project at MOCO 2018 are documented at: https://moco18.provocations.online.
The Provocations Team
The Provocations Project is currently coordinated by Teoma Naccarato, John MacCallum, and Jessica Rajko, drawing on their hybrid backgrounds in contemporary dance, music, and computing, as well as performance philosophy and critical theory. Alongside the Provocations Project, the trio facilitates an ongoing reading and discussion group on issues related to race, colonialism, and diaspora in practices at the intersection of dance and computing.
From the outset, the trajectory of the Provocations Project has remained intentionally fluid, such that ongoing iterations may be (in)formed by the needs and desires of the communities in which it grows. The project leadership is likewise open to ongoing reconfiguration to invite new voices and visions into the mix.