The animal on stage: cultural performances

The conference aims to consider the formulas of animal spectacles, and the meanings expressed by specific performances, both old and contemporary.

PROGRAMME:

November 15, 2022 (Tuesday)

10:15 | Conference opening

10:30-11:00 | Keynote speech. Peta Tait, La Trobe University (Australia), Animal Action and Emotions in Circus Performance: Nineteenth-Century Economic Opportunism

11:00-11:20 | Discussion

11:20-11:30 | Coffee break

11:30-13:00 | Session I
Dominika Czarnecka & Dagnosław Demski, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland), Between the Wild Steppes Left Behind and the New Metropolitan Arenas. Animal Companions at Ethnographic Shows
Jana Milovanović, Terra Vera NGO (Slovenia), Experimenting with Otherness on the Habsburg Periphery: The Case of Carl Hagenbeck’s ‘Animal Acclimatization Station’ in Brioni Islands 
Marianna Szczygielska, Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences (Czechia), ‘Have you seen Little Cohn?’ An Elephant’s Life on Display

13:00-13:15 | Coffee break

13:15-14:25 | Session II
Antonio Giarola, CEDAC – Verona: Educational Center for Circus Arts Documentation in Verona (Italy), The Central Role of the Horse in the Circus Show
Katarzyna Szydłowska-Schiller, National Museum in Warsaw (Poland), The Visual Representation of Animals in Circus Based on the Art Collections of the National Museum in Warsaw

14:45-16:00 | Lunch break

16:00-17:30 | Session III
Anna-Sophie Jürgens, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science of the Australian National University (Australia), Techno-Tentacles: Environmental Circus and the Visual Narratives of Animal Performances of the Future
Justyna Schollenberger, Institute of Polish Culture, University of Warsaw (Poland), Beast Comedy. Practices of Animal Humor Between Cruelty and Marvel
Emilia Mazur, Faculty of ‘Artes Liberales’, University of Warsaw (Poland), Animals as Companions in Video Games – a Chance for ‘Staying with the Trouble’

November 16, 2022 (Wednesday)

10.30-12:00 | Session IV
Stefanie Nathow, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main (Germany), Jumping Lions Instead of Dancing Bears: Animals in the Circus and Nazi Ideology
Marta Bogdańska, visual artist, independent researcher (Poland), SHIFTERS: Internet as a Cultural Spectacle of Animals in War and Espionage
Anna Wieczorkiewicz, Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw (Poland) & Sylwia Siedlecka, Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies, University of Warsaw (Poland), Being a Hero. Animal Protagonists of Visual Narratives about ‘Average Citizens’ Confronting War

12:00-12:20 | Coffee break

12:20-13:50 | Session V
Kalina Zahova, Institute for Literature, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Bulgaria), Zoos in Bulgarian Literature and Literature in Bulgarian Zoos
Sabina Drąg, independent researcher (Germany), Odd Symbiosis – Parasites in Circus
Zuzanna Kubiak, Doctoral School of Humanities at the University of Warsaw (Poland), Animal Spectators. Non-human Gaze in the Theatre and Performance Arts

13:50-15:00 | Lunch break

15:00-16:00 | Session VI
Sara Kruszona, Interdisciplinary Doctoral School at the University of Warsaw (Poland), Dog Frisbee Sports Competition as an Interspecies Spectacle
Paweł Palcat, Wyspiański Academy of Theater Arts in Kraków – Wrocław Branch, Puppet Department (Poland), Dog on the Stage – ‘My Anxiety is Your Anxiety’

16:00-16:30 | Closing remarks