About
Our work takes place on the unceded & occupied territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), & səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, otherwise known as, Vancouver, BC.
Formed in 2018, Subjects of History is a collective of artists creating devised, transdisciplinary, immersive performance works, events & public interventions that explore the concept of co-presence. Cognitive neuroscience defines co-presence as the way in which “emotional transmissions” “mediated by autonomic synchronization” “can occur” even “in the absence of direct communication,” “resulting in shared emotional [& somatic] experiences”(1). Our work unpacks the socio-cultural implications of co-presence on historic & contemporary political contexts. We activate an aesthetics that allows us to engage content normally tackled through theoretical discourse from the site of somatic experience.
Co-presence is our conceptual heart & also functions as the organizing principle for the ways in which we work. We engage in multiple modes of simultaneous, responsive, iterative practice in the context of creation & presentation. This emerges from our diverse training in contemporary dance & choreography, creative writing, sound design, theatre creation, dramaturgy, pedagogy & producing.
As a collective of intersectional Crip, Mad, queer & temporarily able bodied artists, our approaches to process & performance design are also informed by our collectively-held & transforming understandings of artist Carmen Papalia's 5 tenets of Open Access. We prioritize the evolving physical, emotional, spiritual, cognitive & cultural access of collaborators & audiences alike. We are fundamentally reshaping the role of time at all levels of our work. We share vantage points, reaching through & across our personal histories & sites of exclusion.
Reference:
(1) Yulia Golland, Yossi Arzouan, Nava Levit-Binnun, The Mere Co-Presence: Synchronization of Autonomic Signals and Emotional Responses Across Co-Present Individuals Not Engaged in Direct Interaction. PLOS. May 27, 2015.
Formed in 2018, Subjects of History is a collective of artists creating devised, transdisciplinary, immersive performance works, events & public interventions that explore the concept of co-presence. Cognitive neuroscience defines co-presence as the way in which “emotional transmissions” “mediated by autonomic synchronization” “can occur” even “in the absence of direct communication,” “resulting in shared emotional [& somatic] experiences”(1). Our work unpacks the socio-cultural implications of co-presence on historic & contemporary political contexts. We activate an aesthetics that allows us to engage content normally tackled through theoretical discourse from the site of somatic experience.
Co-presence is our conceptual heart & also functions as the organizing principle for the ways in which we work. We engage in multiple modes of simultaneous, responsive, iterative practice in the context of creation & presentation. This emerges from our diverse training in contemporary dance & choreography, creative writing, sound design, theatre creation, dramaturgy, pedagogy & producing.
As a collective of intersectional Crip, Mad, queer & temporarily able bodied artists, our approaches to process & performance design are also informed by our collectively-held & transforming understandings of artist Carmen Papalia's 5 tenets of Open Access. We prioritize the evolving physical, emotional, spiritual, cognitive & cultural access of collaborators & audiences alike. We are fundamentally reshaping the role of time at all levels of our work. We share vantage points, reaching through & across our personal histories & sites of exclusion.
Reference:
(1) Yulia Golland, Yossi Arzouan, Nava Levit-Binnun, The Mere Co-Presence: Synchronization of Autonomic Signals and Emotional Responses Across Co-Present Individuals Not Engaged in Direct Interaction. PLOS. May 27, 2015.