PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERFORMING SPACE 2023 CONFERENCE

Performing Space is an ambitious project that aims to explore the relationship between performance and the built environment from all disciplines that study human activity.

The main objective of Performing Space is to create a meeting point where studies from different disciplines can be presented, experimented with and discussed. The Performing Space 2023 Conference and Workshop, held in Nafplio, Greece, from 7 to 14 July 2023, was the second edition of this project. It was co-organised and hosted by the University of the Peloponnese, supported by the Polytechnic University of Madrid and featured 36 papers and 12 workshop participants from 10 different countries.

The results of Performing Space 2023 presented in this publication show some of the main lines of work currently being carried out. A large number of presentations show the performative expression of space through site-specific performances, a recurring line of work since the origins of the artistic expression called Happenings or, later, Performance art. There is also a large number of papers exploring, from different angles, the relationship between space, ritual and myth, a very interesting approach to the built environment that has been recurrent since the 19th century in archaeology, anthropology, geography and sociology, but which is here extended to theatre studies and cognitive sciences. Different philosophical approaches to the scenic space were also presented and we hope that in future editions, within the always necessary philosophical approach, more works on the built environment will be presented. Another interesting approach is represented by the works of different disciplines that use performance as a tool to understand our environment, of which we had several presentations in this edition. One approach that could not be overlooked is the digital, a medium that is becoming increasingly present in our perception of the environment. In this issue, several papers reflected on the use of the digital image in different types of performance. Finally, several papers were presented on the use of performance in education, an increasingly important issue that needs to be addressed in order to counteract the harmful effects of digital media.

Current Issue

2025: PERFORMANCE & SPACE II. PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERFORMING SPACE 2024 CONFERENCE

Published: 2025-10-04

Performing Space is a research project that explores the relationship between performance and the built environment, taking into account the different perspectives of disciplines that study human activity and space, such as anthropology, archaeology, architecture, economics, law, philosophy, sociology, or theatre studies.

The first objective we set for Performing Space was to establish a platform for presenting, experimenting with and debating studies from different disciplines on performance and its environment. In other words, we wanted to generate an international network to discuss and disseminate the performative vision of space, which is essential for understanding and developing our environment. We chose to hold an international conference containing papers based on artistic or academic research, as well as workshops in which to experiment with different research techniques relating to the rapport between space and performance. The first conference was held in Nafplio, Greece, in 2022, as part of Pablo Berzal Cruz's postdoctoral research project between the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the University of the Peloponnese. The proceedings presented here are the result of the third edition of the event, Performing Space 2024.

The third edition of the Performing Space project, in the form of the Performing Space 2024 Conference and Workshops, took place in Nafplio, Greece, from 3 to 6 July 2024. Organised by the University of the Peloponnese's Departments of Theatre Studies, and Performing and Digital Arts, together with the Polytechnic University of Madrid, this edition was hosted by the University of the Peloponnese and brought together nearly 70 presentations and 40 workshop participants from over 20 countries. The number of participants practically doubled compared to the previous edition, reflecting the growing international and interdisciplinary interest in this project.

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