We are a regional branch of the international Performance Philosophy research network. Our current members are Tom Armbrecht, James Burling, Jill H. Frances Lieder, Tomislav Longinovic, Megan Marsh-McGlone, Jon McKenzie, Dijana Mitrovic, Mark Nelson, Frederic Neyrat, Michael Peterson, Jen Plants, Andrew Salyer, Katrina Schaag, and Christopher William Wolter. Our interests and experiences range fro
m theatre and drama to relational aesthetics to new media to political philosophy, and we are each, to varying degrees, both artists and scholars. In addition to our core questions about theory-practice, we are also strongly invested in democratizing knowledge and promoting a de-hierarchized form of performance philosophy beyond the “ivory tower.” Accordingly, we actively engage in community outreach, investigating key questions at the heart of performance philosophy while also building and strengthening community between artists and scholars within and outside of academic institutions. In April 2014 we presented our inaugural event MAD THEORY, an experimental and dynamic time and space to demonstrate and discuss exciting new work. Supported with an Interim Event Grant from Performance Philosophy, the symposium featured diverse approaches to performance and philosophy: lecture performances, experimental talks, live art, interactive installations, roundtable discussions, durational work, and hybrid theory-practice sessions. In June 2014 we performed at the Theatre, Performance, Philosophy conference at Paris-Sorbonne University. In April 2015 we will present a site-specific performance at the 2nd Biennial Performance Philosophy Conference “What Can Performance Philosophy Do?” in Chicago, and we will also present MAD THEORY 2, supported by the UW-Madison Arts Institute and the Madison Public Library.
