A collaboration between the Moving Bodies and Visual & Material Labs.
On the 9 and 10 of July, the Moving Bodies Lab and the Visual & Material Lab hosted a series of events on the theme of care aesthetics and moving bodies at St Chad’s College, Durham. Inspiration for the event was sparked by shared interests in the Labs on the theme of care, particularly its performative and aesthetic elements.
We were delighted to host Professor James Thompson on 9 July as our keynote speaker, who introduced the work of The Care Lab in Manchester, his background working as a theatre practitioner in conflict zones, and offered some reflections of how care aesthetics operates in the care of older people. Following a response from Moving Bodies Lab member Dr Emily Tupper and a Q&A session chaired by Visual & Material Lab Lead Dr Fiona Johnstone, the audience enjoyed a film screening of A Young Girl in Her Nineties/ Une jeune fille de 90ans (a 2016 film directed by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Yann Coridian).
On 10 July, attendees convened in the Cassidy Quad at St Chad’s College for a workshop on moving bodies and care aesthetics. It was a pleasure to welcome the following speakers, whose participatory sessions explored how bodies move in and through practices of care both within healthcare settings and outside of them:
- Professor James Thompson – Care Aesthetics and Movement
- Dr Megan Girdwood, Professor Kelina Gotman and Dr Mary Coaten – Dance in Institutional Spaces
- Dr Jana Melkumova-Reynolds – Embodied Theory Lab II: Crip time, palliative time
- Professor Deidre (Dee) Heddon – The Art of Careful Walking
Care Aesthetics and Moving Bodies was a wonderful experience, made so by the generosity of those speaking, leading, hosting, and generally participating in the event. We hope that this is just the beginning of generating ways of doing research that embed – as well as take seriously – creativity, care and moving bodies.
