As convenor of this one day international symposium at the Royal Academy of Arts, I sought to bring together practitioners to examine voices of objects and consider influences of theatre methods for contemporary art practice. I curated the accompanying exhibition loaning works by Franciszka Themerson from the Themerson archive, commissioning new artworks by Frank Kent and Wanda Wieser, incorporating a performance workshop directed by Anna Makrzanowska and a documentary film by Marie de Brugerolle on the life and work of Guy de Cointet.
The symposium presenters were artist-poet Paula Claire (Oxford), theatre director and academic Anna Makrzanowska (London/Warsaw), art historian and curator Professor Marie de Brugerolle (Lyon) and founder and former director of Stockholm Marionetteatern, Michael Meschke (Stockholm/Paris). I chaired the subsequent Q&As/panel discussion.
A film of the symposium presentations, workshop and exhibition with additional material by commissioned documenter Deborah Okakigbe is scheduled to go online (RA website) later this year.

Michael Meschke – Transgressing Theatre Borders with Franciszka Themerson
Paula Claire – Ammonites, Phone, Phos Phor
Anna Makrzanowska – Bio-Screen and Bio-Camera: The transmission of Cricot2 and Tadeusz Kantor’s devising methodologies
Marie de Brugerolle – Guy De Cointet - a tribute
Panel Discussion
Procession/Workshop – directed by Anna Makrzanowska
Paula Claire – Trickles from the Treacle Well, Reading the Savoy, It's About Time, Hands Up!