Call for papers – Thematic focus on: “Time-Life and Creation”
RED – Revista Estud(i)os de Dança is pleased to invite you to submit your articles for the thematic focus "Time-Life and Creation".
Invited Editors:
Luca Aprea (Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema; INET-md, Polo FMH, Portugal)
Vera Bertoni (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Departamento de Arte Dramática; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Artes Cênicas - PPGAC, Brasil)
In the contemporary scene, we encounter numerous artists and collectives whose creative processes seem to have a special relationship with time. Without presuming a definitive concept of this “relationship,” which manifests in diverse forms and aesthetics within the performing arts like Dance and Theater, we might describe it as a kind of “attraction” to time itself as a substance, as a material of artistic creation. This attraction shifts the usual relation with time, awakening a perception of a subtler, previously “insensible” or non-existent time—a silent time that becomes more tangible, assuming the quality of a presence or even an invitation.
The expression “time-life” is, in a sense, an attempt to characterize this subtle yet substantial experience of time that emerges or flows alongside the life it establishes as a shared experience. It might also inspire artist-researchers to share reflective accounts of experiences that arise from, or are understood through, this attraction to time.
We learn from French philosopher Henri Bergson [1859 – 1941] that the notion of “duration” is a strictly subjective construction—that is, regardless of the units or instruments we use to quantify time, the idea of its passage is an internal elaboration shaped by individual experiences and measured by the quality of our affects. This seemingly simple premise— that we go through time in one way but sense or feel it differently—leads us to a complex understanding of the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of time. It prompts us to consider the experiential and spontaneous aspect of our knowledge processes throughout life, as opposed to the planned, categorized, and conceptualized way we comprehend so-called academic knowledge.
While Bergson's notion of duration evokes a denser, “fuller” experience of time than the almost invisible time of daily life, we would like to define duration as a distinct quality of time that flows alongside life. It is precisely the relationship between the artist, their work, and the spectator who witnesses it, and this time we call “time-life,” that we aim to emphasize in this brief text, intended to invite/provoke artists, educators, and researchers to consider how, at a certain point, time becomes more present. Beyond its existential dimension, our focus is on the creative dimension of the relationship with this “substance.” This relationship resembles, for example, the way a sculptor engages with a specific material, a painter with light, or a musician with silence and sound. It is, therefore, the authorial or creative interaction that the artist establishes with this temporal substance, which we also refer to as duration.
One dimension of this interactive relationship with time as duration is continuity: whether to emphasize the flow of this time-life, which is continuous because it unfolds (and repeats) endlessly, or to describe the relationship formed between the plane of time as spontaneous giving (immanence) and the plane of receiving and interpreting this giving (“witness”). The notion of a witness refers to the paradoxical position of an observer who finds themselves simultaneously immersed in the spontaneously flow of time. The two planes—the plane of spontaneous (unconscious) giving and that of the witness (conscious)—when opened to one other, establish a relationship of continuity. It is as if the witness’s position allowed for a quality of open attention to a field that typically remains in the background, hidden or overshadowed by immediately recognizable surface events; or itself constituted a place of suspension from habitual modes of perception and action, which are generally goal- and result-oriented, leading to an experience of different mode of efficacy through perceptual openness to detail.
In this sense, perceptual openness to the field of the so-called “time-life” (duration) would not entail an intimate, solipsistic immersion of each person into their own life narratives. Rather, it would correspond to a perceptual expansion and a search/creation of knowledge that transcends the most immediate conditions of knowing.
The journal Estud(i)os de Dança (RED) launches a thematic focus on “Time-Life and Creation,” dedicated to collecting and sharing accounts of artistic experiences in the field of performing arts, or stage arts, that in some way reflect this substantial, corporeal relationship between stage, time, and life.
From this perspective, RED also aims to include works derived from research rooted in life-story narratives or other qualitative biographical methodologies that seek to highlight the unique relationship between the artistic event and time: the time of experience, encounter, and meaning-making. Reflective accounts involving narratives of specific experiences developed within artistic, cultural, or educational action in Dance, Theater, and other Performing Arts are welcome, as are those that focus on broader experiences or trajectories, encompassing both the personal and professional development of artists or mentors “throughout life,” as well as the formation and consolidation of collectives distinguished by aesthetic choices, identity cause-driven causes, artistic practices, methodologies, pedagogies, and modes of producing and disseminating non-hegemonic knowledge and practices.
Another aspect that can be explored involves the relationships established between experimental productions and events in the field of performing arts, specifically in Dance or Theater, and what we call the “market” or “circuit,” where selection and funding processes often align with commercial interests or specific criteria that tend to disadvantage experimental proposals and open artistic processes. These processes are inherently susceptible to uncertainty, imperfection, and error—elements integral to lived experience that are rarely embraced or visible on the “conventional” stage.
Overall, the goal is to offer RED readers a composition of scenic experiences from diverse contexts, with an emphasis on those that unfold on the margins of formal or dominant art and education circuits, driven by unconventional dynamics or flows, while also valuing those grounded on epistemologies, methodologies, and research dynamics established within academia, from primary to higher education.
Suggested topics:
- Time as a material for creation in the performing arts
- Time and life stories
- Experiential learning throughout life
- Time and artistic and cultural action
References
Bergson, H. (2006). Duração e simultaneidade. Martins Fontes.
Deleuze, G. (1995). L’immanence: une vie… Philosophie, No. 47: Gilles Deleuze, 3-7. Les Éditions de Minuit.
Josso, M.-C. (2007). A transformação de si a partir da narração de histórias de vida. Educação, 63(3), 413–438.
Lapoujade, D. (2013). Potências do tempo (H. Lencastre, Trad.). n-1 edições.
Deadline for submissions: March 15, 2025
Expected Publication: Autumn 2025
Submission: Papers must follow the submission guidelines and be submitted directly through the journal's website using the OJS platform. When submitting, please select the section titled: “Thematic Focus”.
RED ensures a blind peer review process, and the editorial requirements specify that the publication of submitted articles will only be guaranteed following the successful completion of the evaluation and review process.