These were questions posed by the CHR’s Jane Taylor in a lecture delivered as part of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA) Spring 2021 virtual residency and highlighted by Amy Schuessler in an article exploring Taylor’s presentation. After encouraging students as artists-philosophers to reflect on their creative studies, Taylor explored a range of topics, from digital doubles to prosthetics and puppetry, to her own theatrical work After Cardenio – an experimental theatre piece that imagines how Shakespeare (in a play since lost to us) might have responded to the character of Cardenio from Cervantes’ Don Quixote. The work is based on the story of Anne Greene, a young woman whose body had been remitted for dissection following her hanging. Schuessler positions Taylor’s theatrical work as “an extraordinary example of how puppetry engages and persuades an audience to embrace the vitality and agency of the puppet form.” The art of puppetry is a key mode of aesthetic inquiry at the CHR, which hosts Artists in Residence Ukwanda Puppets and Designs Art Collective and has been part of an expansive collaboration with partners Handspring Puppet Company and Net vir Pret on the annual Barrydale giant puppet parade and performance.
The CHR fellowship programme will continue in 2022 through online platforms and, where permitted, limited live events hosted in compliance with COVID-19 protocols. Please follow our events page for updates about events.