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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20261006T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20261006T190000
DTSTAMP:20260605T153830Z
CREATED:20260515T112452Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260605T153830Z
UID:1330-1791307800-1791313200@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #169: Campbell Edinborough
DESCRIPTION:Campbell Edinborough is a writer\, educator and interdisciplinary artist. He works across theatre\, live art\, dance and film. His diverse practice is connected by an interest in processes of guiding attention\, observation and reflection – informed by his long-standing research into somatics\, movement and martial arts. Campbell’s work has been supported by organisations including Arts Council England\, Soho Theatre\, Resonance FM\, Hull Truck Theatre\, NYU\, Yorkshire Dance and Being Human.  He is Associate Professor in Creative Practice at the University of Leeds. 
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-170-campbell-edinborough/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2026/05/Campbell-Edinborough.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260922T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260922T190000
DTSTAMP:20260720T150336Z
CREATED:20260515T085903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260720T150336Z
UID:1328-1790098200-1790103600@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #168: Natalie Reckert
DESCRIPTION:Songs for an Unwritten Sky\, performance at Lowry 9/10 October 2026 / premiere \n\n\n\nAbout the performance \n\n\n\nSongs for an Unwritten Sky is a performance exploring the past\, present\, and imagined futures of Pier 8 at Salford Quays. \n\n\n\nBlending music\, poetry\, and acrobatics\, acclaimed theatre maker Natalie Reckert creates a performance inspired by the memories\, experiences\, and hopes of the people who live and work in Salford. Accompanied by musician Xenia Garden the piece weaves together stories of community\, resilience\, and aspiration\, imagining more communal\, ecological\, and collaboratively created futures for our cities.  \n\n\n\nThe idea behind this performance   \n\n\n\nis to open the creative process to community voices\, breaking down barriers between institutional art and audiences.  \n\n\n\nThroughout my career as an artist\, I have searched for ways to create shared experiences through performance. The strength of live performance lies in its ability to bring people together in one space — listening to one another\, and opening ourselves to ideas and perspectives that may feel new\, unfamiliar\, or even uncomfortable.  \n\n\n\nBoth the making of a performance and its presentation hold a unique potential to bring us closer together. They invite us\, as thoughtful citizens\, to reflect\, make choices\, and take a position in relation to the world around us.  \n\n\n\nThis feels especially important at a time when many of us feel increasingly separated from one another\, while also feeling uncertain about what we believe in or hope for.  \n\n\n\nSongs for an Unwritten Sky ultimately invites audiences to imagine what they want their city to become. Cities are places of dreams\, aspirations\, fears\, and shared lives. They are spaces where our collective future takes shape.  \n\n\n\nThe performance asks audiences\, and contributors\, to take ownership of that future — to imagine how we might live better together\, and to participate in the co-creation of more caring\, communal\, and hopeful cities.  \n\n\n\nAbout the artist: \n\n\n\nNatalie Reckert is a London-based artist and performance maker creating performance works since 2010. A graduate of the National Centre for Circus Arts\, she also studied dance at Sozo Visions in Motion (Kassel) and Social Sciences at Humboldt University Berlin\, where her research focused on the subjective physical experience of an acrobat. Using the body as a vehicle for self-actualization and protest\, her work dismantles the spectacle of the circus body\, transforming acrobatics into a relatable\, communal experience.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-169/
LOCATION:Poetry Library\, Manchester Metropolitan University\, Grosvenor East\, Cavendish Street\,\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6BG\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2026/05/Handstand-12-C-John-Paul-Brown-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260707T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260707T190000
DTSTAMP:20260703T070514Z
CREATED:20260226T161617Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260703T070514Z
UID:1195-1783445400-1783450800@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #167: Deborah Pearson
DESCRIPTION:Deborah Pearson makes performance that often sits at the intersection of several contexts\, spanning playwrighting\, participatory theatre\, relational performance\, video art and audio installations among other mediums. Her work has been performed in over 20 countries and translated into several languages. She is founding co-director of artist curation collective Forest Fringe. She has a PhD from Royal Holloway\, where she was a Reid Scholar.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-167-deborah-pearson/
LOCATION:The salutation inn\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2026/02/Deborarh-Pearson.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260623T000000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260624T235959
DTSTAMP:20260616T102029Z
CREATED:20260317T170546Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260616T102029Z
UID:1234-1782172800-1782345599@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Between Then and Now: Performing Archives
DESCRIPTION: The Royal Exchange Theatre\, Manchester\, 23-24 June 2026Convened by the Performance Research Group\, Manchester School of Theatre\, Manchester Metropolitan University. \n\n\n\nFollowing on from our previous conference\, Scoring Performance/Performing Scores (2023)\, Between Then and Now: Performing Archives is interested in exploring how the archive can be a score for future development\, how it can be reactivated\, reanimated or re-enacted. This research also suggests a recall from the past to the present and we are particularly concerned\, in the current political climate\, with work that affords a consideration of temporality at a time when archives are being erased. \n\n\n\nThe conference will interrogate the role of the archive in shaping\, capturing\, echoing\, and contextualising performance\, and to bring this area of thinking and practice into productive dialogue.  \n\n\n\nPlease find a brief schedule here. We are expecting about 25 papers\, presentations\, performances and exhibitions over the two days. We have a small number of spaces available for academic and artistic colleagues and PhD students who would like to attend\, but because of the size of the room and catering\, these places are limited. If you would like to attend on either Tuesday or Wednesday\, please sign up at the form below. If you have questions\, please contact the Performance Research Group at performanceresearch@mmu.ac.uk. \n\n\n\nTuesday 23rd June  \n\n\n\n9:30 Assemble  \n\n\n\n9:45 Welcome  \n\n\n\n10:00 Keynote presentation – Karen Christopher  \n\n\n\n11:00 Morning Coffee  \n\n\n\n11:30 Session One – Papers with Q&A \n\n\n\n12:45  Lunch  \n\n\n\n13:45 Session Two – Performances with Q&A  \n\n\n\n15:00 Coffee Break  \n\n\n\n15:30 Session Three – Performance Presentations and Q&A  \n\n\n\n16:45 Move to bar  \n\n\n\n17:00 Session Five – Performances  \n\n\n\n18:30 End of day \n\n\n\nWednesday 24th June  \n\n\n\n9:30 Assemble  \n\n\n\n10:00 Welcome  \n\n\n\n10:15 Session Five – Papers with Q&A \n\n\n\n11:30 Coffee Break \n\n\n\n12:00 Session Six – Papers with Q&A \n\n\n\n13:15  Lunch break \n\n\n\n14:15 Session Seven – Performance Presentations and Q&A \n\n\n\n15:30 Afternoon coffee \n\n\n\n15:45 Keynote presentation – Matthew Spangler \n\n\n\n17:00 Thank you and goodbye \n\n\n\nFINAL Conference Schedule landscape-3Download
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/conference-at-the-royal-exchange-theatre/
LOCATION:The Royal Exchange Theatre\, St Ann's Square\, Manchester\, M2 7DH\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2026/03/PRG_Images_at_Contact_Theatre_-_25_July_2025-62-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260602T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260602T173000
DTSTAMP:20260306T141320Z
CREATED:20260121T160428Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260306T141320Z
UID:1101-1780421400-1780421400@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #166: Harry Wilson
DESCRIPTION:Salutation Pub (upstairs)Higher Chatham StreetManchesterM15 6ED \n\n\n\nRegistration for this event will be available soon. \n\n\n\nA video recording of this talk will be available from 2 July. \n\n\n\nPlacing Spaces: exploring place-based entanglements through creative technologies\n\n\n\nSince 2023\, Harry has been collaborating with his daughter Poppy\, young people and migrant mothers in Bristol\, UK to explore significant places in their local environments through creative technologies. In this Bunker Talk\, Harry will reflect on his Placing Spaces project\, which uses 3D scanning\, recorded audio and location-based AR (Augmented Reality) to document participants’ place attachments and create locative AR experiences for audiences. \n\n\n\nHarry is an artist-researcher and Lecturer in Digital Theatre and Performance-Making at the University of Bristol. Harry’s research focuses on interdisciplinary explorations of live art and performance\, photography\, documentation\, digital art and new media through critical theory and artistic research. Recently Harry has been exploring intersections between immersive technologies and intimate performance\, including in site-specific AR and VR performance. He was Digital Thinker in Residence at the National Theatre of Scotland (2018-19) and Research Associate on the Walking Publics / Walking Arts project (2021-22) at the University of Glasgow. He is currently writing a book on The Expanded Dramaturgies of Virtual Reality Performance for Methuen’s ‘Performance and Digital Cultures’ series.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-167/
LOCATION:The salutation inn\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2026/01/talk167.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260519T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260519T173000
DTSTAMP:20260306T141919Z
CREATED:20260121T155012Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260306T141919Z
UID:1098-1779211800-1779211800@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #165: Stephen Sutcliffe
DESCRIPTION:Salutation Pub (upstairs)Higher Chatham StreetManchesterM15 6ED \n\n\n\nPlease register on Eventbrite if you wish to attend. \n\n\n\nA video recording of this talk will be available from 19 June. \n\n\n\nUK based artist Stephen Sutcliffe (1968\, Harrogate) creates and exhibits films\, collages\, wall paintings and photographs from an extensive archive of material he has been amassing since childhood\, together with items found in institutional collections. Often reflecting on aspects of British culture and identity and having literary origins\, the results are melancholic\, poetic and satirical amalgams which subtly tease out and critique ideas of class-consciousness and cultural authority. Employing an extensive editing process Sutcliffe’s works subvert predominant narratives\, generating alternative readings through the juxtaposition and layering of both found and self-generated material. \n\n\n\nRecent solo exhibitions include\, Psychopomp\, Moon Grove 2026\, You Can Come in But You Won’t Like it\, Rob Tufnell 2023\, High Windows\, Dead Birds\, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2019). Sex Symbols in Sandwich Signs\, Talbot Rice Edinburgh\, Twixt Cup and Lip\, Hepworth Wakefield (2017)\, Going Over\, Rob Tufnell\, London (2015)\, Outwork and Workings Out\, Tramway\, Glasgow (2013). In 2018 he participated in the Manchester International Festival in collaboration with Graham Eatough on a film for the Whitworth Gallery No End to Enderby\, for which they won the Contemporary Arts Society Award. He has been shortlisted for the Jarman Award twice and in 2012 he won the Margaret Tait Award. In 2019 he had two books published\, at Fifty (Sternberg Press) a monograph and Much Obliged\, (Book Works) a kind of autobiography. That year\, he curated a Herbert Read Archive exhibition at Leeds University’s Brotherton Library with Pavillion\, accompanied by the video City of Dreadful Something. In 2024 he presented Memories of the Five Administrations\, a joint exhibition with Simon Bedwell at Beaconsfield Gallery\, London.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-166/
LOCATION:The salutation inn\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2026/01/talk166.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260505T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260505T173000
DTSTAMP:20260306T141656Z
CREATED:20260121T154550Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260306T141656Z
UID:1095-1778002200-1778002200@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #164: Benedict L Phillips
DESCRIPTION:Salutation Pub (upstairs)Higher Chatham StreetManchesterM15 6ED \n\n\n\nPlease register on Eventbrite if you wish to attend. \n\n\n\nA video recording of this talk will be available from 5 June. \n\n\n\nAn A-Z of neurodivergent ideas \n\n\n\nBenedict Phillips is an established artist\, curator\, and consultant. His practice is eclectic\, encompassing a broad range of methodologies\, generating work as diverse as public art\, performance\, sculpture\, photography\, and media art. He is particularly concerned with the ongoing interrelationship and shifting hierarchy between photography\, sculpture and performance within his practice\, and the aesthetics of each approach. Exploiting historical production processes as well as more recent digitally driven approaches informs the making of much of his work. \n\n\n\nBenedict has been making neuro-affirmative art projects for 35 years and recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of his manifesto and artwork The Agenda of the Agresiv Dislecksick\, published in Disability Arts in London (DAIL)\, 1995. \n\n\n\nBenedict is currently developing a project that encompasses and reflects on the past\, present\, and possible futures of neurodivergent creative practice. He has recently rescued the Art Dyslexic Trust Archive\, which encompasses the period 1992 to 2012\, from destruction. \n\n\n\nBenedict is Director and founding member of several arts groups and organisations\, including: Field Study (est. 1993\, book art and mail group); Digital Media Labs (est. 2010\, professional development residencies for artists); Lens Lab Project (est. 2020\, a not-for-profit socially engaged photographic community-focused organisation). Benedict has been a regular guest lecturer at universities in the UK and the USA over the past 25 years\, delivering professional development and artist talks\, and he is a member of the expert panel at Manchester School of Architecture. \n\n\n\nPhoto credit: Jonathan Turner.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-165/
LOCATION:The salutation inn\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2026/01/talk165.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260421T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260421T190000
DTSTAMP:20260306T142008Z
CREATED:20260206T094608Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260306T142008Z
UID:1139-1776792600-1776798000@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #163: Be Andr
DESCRIPTION:Be Andr (b. 1978\, Norway) is a London-based artist and researcher whose practice treats code as a material and temporal condition\, combining algorithmic systems with oil painting to probe the boundary between image\, text\, and execution. Through his System of Emergent Touch (SET)\, he stages painting as a site of friction where computational processes and material resistance co-individuate\, reconfiguring tactility\, sense\, and authorship within human–machine relations. \n\n\n\nHe holds a PhD and MA from the Royal College of Art. Exhibitions include a UNESCO-commissioned project at Fabriano Contemporanea(IT)\, Halle13 (AT)\, CCA Andratx (ES)\, The Bomb Factory Art Foundation (UK)\, and the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art (IL). His public works are installed in Oslo (NO)\, Mare Street\, Hackney (UK)\, Howick Place\, Victoria (UK)\, and Corso della Repubblica\, Fabriano (IT).
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-164-be-andr/
LOCATION:The salutation inn\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2026/02/be_Andr_colour-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260324T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260324T190000
DTSTAMP:20260306T142853Z
CREATED:20260114T134312Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260306T142853Z
UID:1069-1774373400-1774378800@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #162: The Guardians of Living Matter
DESCRIPTION:In partnership with Lowry\, hosted by Alasdair Swenson (SODA) \n\n\n\nArtists Sophy King and John-Paul Brown discuss their current exhibition The Guardians of Living Matter\, opening at Lowry from 31 January – 29 March 2026. Their collaborative practice explores ecology\, climate justice and our relationship with living and digital networks – bringing together sculpture\, installation\, research and regenerative materials. \n\n\n\nCentred around a major new multi-sensory installation made from AI and mycelium\, the exhibition imagines radical ecological futures and new ways of living in balance with the world around us. \n\n\n\nJoin us for a conversation about artistic collaboration\, living materials\, and what it means to create in the age of climate crisis. The project has been commissioned through Lowry’s flagship artist development programme\, Developed With\, which supports artists across the North of England to scale their ambitions and reach new audiences. The exhibition will run in Lowry’s Andrew Law Galleries from 31 January – 29 March 2026.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/the-guardians-of-living-matter/
LOCATION:SODA\, 14 High Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2026/01/talk163.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260304T160000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260304T173000
DTSTAMP:20260115T135428Z
CREATED:20260114T134748Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260115T135428Z
UID:1072-1772640000-1772645400@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:GoGlobal Talk: Matthew Spangler
DESCRIPTION:Performing Migration \n\n\n\nTheatre has a long history of engaging stories of displacement\, from the ancient Greeks to the present day. Visiting Professor Matthew Spangler will discuss recent theatre productions about refugee experiences with a focus on how certain practice-based methodologies – specifically\, verbatim theatre\, dance\, adaptation\, and co-authorship – intersect with questions of ethics and representation. He will be joined by Dr. Nesrin Alrefaai of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics for the second half of the presentation\, which will focus on their stage adaptation of Christy Lefteri’s novel The Beekeeper of Aleppo\, currently on tour in the U.K. and Ireland.  \n\n\n\nMatthew Spangler is Visiting Professor of Theatre at Manchester School of Theatre based in the Performance Research Group. This event is part of GoGlobal Week\, celebrating Manchester Met’s global community and offering every student an international experience
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/goglobal-talk-matthew-spangler/
LOCATION:Grosvenor east\, Cavendish Street\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2026/01/Beekeeper.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260303T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260303T190000
DTSTAMP:20260605T155435Z
CREATED:20260605T155050Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260605T155435Z
UID:1375-1772559000-1772564400@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #173: TBC
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-173-tbc/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260303T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260303T190000
DTSTAMP:20260202T143040Z
CREATED:20251014T172056Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260202T143040Z
UID:1002-1772559000-1772564400@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #161: Jamal Gerald
DESCRIPTION:Jamal Gerald is a writer and performance artist based in Leeds. Since 2014\, his practice has spanned Live Art\, theatre\, performance\, short film\, and poetry\, exploring spirituality\, ancestry\, and the intersections of Blackness and queerness. His work is conversational\, unapologetic\, and socially driven. \n\n\n\nHe is the author of Dee Jumbie Dance: A Resurrection (2023) and has participated in the Channel 4 New Writers Scheme (2024/25). His writing has been published by Methuen Drama\, Oberon Books\, and the Live Art Development Agency. \n\n\n\nSelected commissioned works include Idol (Transform / Theatre in the Mill\, 2019)\, 3 Monday Midnights (Heart of Glass\, 2020)\, and Baba Osain (Marlborough Productions\, 2024)\, which was also supported by Factory International. His short play Pastor Fi Deadwas presented at the Royal Court as part of Queer Upstairs (2021)\, and his monologue Dear Chief was commissioned by Eclipse Theatre for My White Best Friend – North (2021). \n\n\n\nIn 2025\, he created A Joy Ritual\, an interactive performance at Wharf Chambers in Leeds. Other touring highlights include You See…\, a one-to-one performance which has been presented at Kampnagel (Hamburg)\, SPILL Festival\, and New Performance Turku (Finland). His work has also been presented at venues\, festivals\, and showcases including Battersea Arts Centre\, Barbican\, Leeds Playhouse\, HOME\, Roundhouse\, Contact\, Midlands Arts Centre\, and caravan. \n\n\n\nJamal has undertaken artist residencies at Alice Yard (Trinidad) and RISCO Festival (São Paulo\, Brazil)\, and completed research in Montserrat funded by Arts Council England. He is a recipient of Jerwood Arts’ Live Work Fund (2021) and the Another Route Fellowship (2022)\, and was shortlisted for the Adopt A Playwright Award (2023).
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-161-selina-thompson/
LOCATION:Poetry Library\, Manchester Metropolitan University\, Grosvenor East\, Cavendish Street\,\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6BG\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/10/Jamal-Gerald-scaled.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260203T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260203T190000
DTSTAMP:20251014T171843Z
CREATED:20251014T171842Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251014T171843Z
UID:998-1770139800-1770145200@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #160: Kelly Jones x Adam Z. Robinson
DESCRIPTION:Stage Fright: Staging the Ghost Story \n\n\n\nGhost stories have long been associated with performance. Many of us have enjoyed the thrill of sharing the telling of spooky tales around the winter fireside\, or the thrill of dressing up as a ghoul for Halloween. But what happens to the tales of the dead when they are brought to life in the theatre? Join host Brontë Schiltz (writer and academic)\, Adam Z. Robinson (writer\, actor and theatre-maker)\, Dr Kelly Jones (academic and author of Staging the Ghost Story: Shadows in the Limelight) as they discuss the thrills and challenges of staging the ghost story.  \n\n\n\nDr Kelly Jones is Senior Lecturer in Drama at the University of Lincoln where she specialises in theatrical realisations of the supernatural and stage Gothic. Her most recent publication is Staging the Ghost Story: Shadows in the Limelight (Palgrave\, 2025). \n\n\n\nAdam Z. Robinson is a writer\, theatre-maker and award-winning author of flash fiction. His theatre work includes: Upon the Stair (“Everyone needs to see this show” – ✭✭✭✭½ The Reviews Hub) and Smile Club (✭✭✭✭ – The Guardian) co-written with Andrea Heaton. His plays The Book of Darkness & Light and Shivers toured nationally between 2016-2019. As well as his original plays\, Adam has adapted classic works for the stage: Nightmares (national tour 2024)\, Haunted (two national tours\, 2023) and A Christmas Carol (national tours 2019-25; residencies London 2022\, New Brunswick\, Canada\, 2023). Adam’s other writing includes: Conscientious (national tour 2014)\, Belle & Mary (a true crime play commissioned by The Dukes Lancaster) and Seaside Terror (national tours 2017-20) with OddDoll Theatre. His play\, Unhomely\, premiered at Leeds Playhouse in 2024 and is published\, along with his other playtexts\, with Playdead Press. Adam is the host of The Ghost Story Book Club podcast. www.adamzrobinson.com
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-160-kelly-jones-x-adam-z-robinson/
LOCATION:SODA\, 14 High Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/10/talk160.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260120T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260120T190000
DTSTAMP:20251014T171228Z
CREATED:20251014T171227Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251014T171228Z
UID:993-1768930200-1768935600@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #158: Testament
DESCRIPTION:estament is a writer\, rapper\, educator and world record breaking beatboxer. \n\n\n\nTestament is writer of awards nominated play Black Men Walking(Best Play UK Theatre Awards\, Best New Play Writer’s Guild of Great Britain) and Orpheus In The Record Shop which was broadcast on BBC Four TV. \n\n\n\nAs a poet Testament was Black Nature Writer-in Residence for the Yorkshire Dales 2024\, and part the award-winning Hot Poets eco-poetry collective. He is also a contributor to the acclaimed Gifts of Gravity & Light: A Nature Almanac for the 21st Century(Hodder Books) 2021. \n\n\n\nTestament’s diverse work includes spoken word\, composing music for award winning adverts\, writing musicals\, performing at Downing Street\, making radio history documentaries\, nature essays and freestyle rapping for Nobel Peace Prize winners. \n\n\n\nTestament has had numerous TV appearances on BBC\, ITV and Sky Arts and has been the guest host on Radio 4 poetry show The Verb twice. His poetic radio drama Daughter won Special Commendation at the BBC Audiodrama Awards 2022 and was nominated for the Prix Europa. \n\n\n\nHe was 2019 Channel 4 Writer-in-Residence for The Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester. \n\n\n\nAs a facilitator\, Testament runs the HIP-HOP CLINIC – a workshop that company that runs rap\, poetry and beatbox workshops around the world. He has also worked with BBC Bitesize and presented GCSE Poetry podcasts. \n\n\n\nCurrently\, he is a writer on the hit Top 10 NETFLIX animated show Castlevania Nocturne.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-158-testament/
LOCATION:Poetry Library\, Manchester Metropolitan University\, Grosvenor East\, Cavendish Street\,\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6BG\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/10/Testament-scaled.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251202T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251202T190000
DTSTAMP:20250902T175834Z
CREATED:20250902T175529Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250902T175834Z
UID:943-1764696600-1764702000@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #158: Tony Schumacher
DESCRIPTION:Tony Schumacher had one dream when he was a kid\, and that was to be a writer.  Instead of becoming a writer he bombed out of school aged 16 with no qualifications and a sigh of relief. \n\n\n\nHe worked his way around the world as a roofer\, a jeweller\, a bouncer\, a barman\, a binman\, and on-board cruise ships selling underpants\, before eventually returning to Liverpool to become a response policeman dealing with 999 jobs morning\, noon and nights. \n\n\n\nEleven years later\, after a breakdown and a period of homelessness\, he found himself driving a taxi around the night-time streets of Liverpool.  That was when he remembered his dream and finally started to write. \n\n\n\nHis first three novels were published by HarperCollins in the USA\, and since then he has been mentored by Jimmy McGovern as part of the ScreenSkills High End TV Writers Bursary Scheme (2018) and been invited to join the BBC Writersroom Northern Voices Scheme.  \n\n\n\nThis talk will be hosted by Zodwa Nyoni (Lecturer in Scriptwriting).
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-tony-schumacher/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/09/Tony-Schumacher-The-Responder-writer-screenwriter-Liverpool1.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251126T160000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251126T170000
DTSTAMP:20251110T112306Z
CREATED:20251110T101600Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251110T112306Z
UID:1017-1764172800-1764176400@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:PRG Presents: Roberto Sifuentes
DESCRIPTION:Roberto Sifuentes: In Permanent Process of Reinvention \n\n\n\nPresented by the Performance Research Group at Manchester Met University. \n\n\n\nThis presentation will chronicle a history of Roberto Sifuentes’ radical performances with La Pocha Nostra Performance group since the mid ‘90s\, his radical performance pedagogy and recent collaborations with digital media artists including his most recent project #exsanguination.  \n\n\n\nRoberto Sifuentes is an interdisciplinary performance artist.  His work fuses highly charged cultural issues with a wild pop culture aesthetic. From homeland security to extreme reality television – from video games to military training – from fetishism to evangelism – Sifuentes creates interactive performance installations where personas wind their way through psycho/sexual/political/ universes. The result is a cinematic style that uses satire\, humor\, and spectacle to peel away the viewer’s protective layers and reveal society’s desires\, fears and obsessions.  \n\n\n\nSifuentes’ recent projects include: #exsanguination\, a collaboration with new media artist jonCates and Aram Han Sifuentes (present); “Reculmulations: Digital Avatars and Performance objects” A collaboration with digital artist Claudia Hart and composer Edmund Campion (Black and White Gallery NYC).  \n\n\n\nA founding member of La Pocha Nostra performance troupe (San Francisco)\, Sifuentes has collaborated and performed with Guillermo Gómez-Peña and La Pocha Nostra throughout at over 800 venues throughout the United States\, Europe and Latin America. Projects with La Pocha Include: “Corpo Illicito” (2009-2011)\, “The New Barbarians Collection Fall ’07 X-teme Fashion show and Human Auction”  (Arnolfini\, 2007)\, “Divino Corpo” (NRLA\, 2008) “The Mapa/Corpo Series: Interactive rituals for the new millennium” (2005-2009)\, The Mexterminator Project (1997-2001)\, BORDERscape 2000 (1998-99)\, The Temple of Confessions (an interactive performance/installation which opened at the Corcoran Gallery in October 1996)\, El Naftazteca: Cyber-Aztec TV for 2000 AD\, and The Dangerous Border Game.   \n\n\n\nSifuentes has co-authored two books: Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy (Routledge 2011)\, and Temple of  Confessions: Mexican Beasts and Living Santos (Powerhouse Books 1997).  \n\n\n\nSifuentes is a Collected Artist of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.   \n\n\n\nFrom 2001-2006\, Sifuentes was in residence at LaMaMa ETC in New York as Artistic Director of The Trinity College/La MaMa Performing Arts Program NYC.  He was the 2008 Elena Diaz-Verson Amos Eminent Scholar in Latin American Studies at Columbus State University\, Georgia.  \n\n\n\nSifuentes is currently a tenured full Professor of Performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/roberto-sifuentes-in-permanent-process-of-reinvention/
LOCATION:Grosvenor east\, Cavendish Street\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-10-at-09.56.01.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251118T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251118T190000
DTSTAMP:20251118T114557Z
CREATED:20250630T124201Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251118T114557Z
UID:879-1763487000-1763492400@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #157: Asia Triennial Manchester
DESCRIPTION:Unfortunately this event has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control. \n\n\n\nAsia Triennial Manchester (ATM) returns in 2025 with a bold new theme: Transvaluation. Developed by an international Curatorial Assembly\, this sixth edition explores how we can rethink the idea of value—moving beyond profit\, measurement\, and norms to imagine more generous\, inclusive\, and creative ways of seeing the world. \n\n\n\nSince its launch in 2008\, ATM has brought together artists\, audiences\, and institutions to celebrate contemporary Asian art and culture\, while also reflecting on the complexity of British Asian experience. With a legacy of exhibitions\, performances\, collaborations and commissions\, ATM continues to question\, challenge and expand what art can do in the world today. \n\n\n\nThis year’s curators—reframed as convenors to reflect a more collaborative\, democratic model—are building a curatorial framework rooted in shared thinking\, experimentation\, and global dialogue. Inspired by both local context and international urgency\, ATM6: Transvaluation opens up new ways of creating\, curating and connecting across borders and disciplines. \n\n\n\nFull programme details will be published on the ATM website.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-157-asia-triennial-manchester/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/06/atm25.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251104T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251104T190000
DTSTAMP:20250630T124000Z
CREATED:20250630T123959Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250630T124000Z
UID:876-1762277400-1762282800@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #156: Rachel Smith
DESCRIPTION:Rachel Smith is a writer and performer living in the North West. She has written on many long running BBC TV series including DOCTORS\, CASUALTY\, FATHER BROWN\, THE DUMPING GROUND\, and has created and written dramas for BBC Radio 4. She wrote 3 episodes of political spy thriller RED ELECTION\, now streaming on Disney+. She has been part of TV writers rooms developing series for Endor/Fox\, Netflix\, Subotica and Mopar Studios/Viaplay. She has original TV series in development\, and she regularly teaches an online ‘Fundamentals of Screenwriting’ class for Script Writing North. \n\n\n\nRachel originally trained as an actor at MMU\, working extensively for many years across film\, TV and radio; and with theatre companies including Kaboodle\, Sphinx Theatre\, Manchester Royal Exchange\, Contact Theatre\, Library Theatre\, National Theatre Studios and Birmingham Rep. After becoming a parent\, she left acting behind to focus full time on their TV writing career. In 2023\, she made a foray back into performance via stand-up and cabaret\, and sold out her first split bill WIP show at Manchester’s Women In Comedy Festival in 2024. Rachel is currently developing her first solo theatre show\, MOTHER DARK\, supported by a DYCP grant from Arts Council England.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-156-rachel-smith/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/06/Unknown-2.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251006T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251006T190000
DTSTAMP:20250630T123608Z
CREATED:20250630T123436Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250630T123608Z
UID:869-1759771800-1759777200@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #155: Mufaro Makubika
DESCRIPTION:Mufaro Makubika is an award-winning writer of Zimbabwean descent from Nottingham. He won the Alfred Fagon Award for the best new play in 2017 with SHEBEEN which opened at Nottingham Playhouse before transferring to Theatre Royal Stratford East in London. Other credits include MALINDADZIMU (Hampstead Theatre)\, THIS IS NOT A COUP (Paines Plough) and WE NEED NEW NAMES (Fifth Word/New Perspectives and Brixton House). Mufaro also won the 2023 Theatre Royal Haymarket Writers’ Award sponsored by Donmar Warehouse and Access Entertainment. He has been on attachment with the National Theatre and was a writer in residence with Paines Plough Theatre Company.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-155-mufaro-makubika/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/06/MM.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250922T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250922T190000
DTSTAMP:20250630T123642Z
CREATED:20250630T122524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250630T123642Z
UID:864-1758562200-1758567600@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #154: Alex Kelly
DESCRIPTION:Alex Kelly is a theatre & games maker\, writer\, performer and mentor. He creates performance and participatory projects that connect the territories of theatre\, games\, conversation\, installation and digital media. Since 2023 he has been making projects under the name Voyager 3. From 1995–2023 he was Co-Artistic Director of Sheffield-based\, internationally acclaimed theatre company Third Angel\, which toured extensively throughout the UK and internationally. He is an associate of Lisbon-based international theatre collective Má Criação. \n\n\n\nAlex is a serial collaborator and an experienced educator\, and regularly mentors other artists and theatre companies. He has a PhD in autobiographical and documentary theatre\, and is Reader in Theatre & Performance at Leeds Beckett University. He has taught at numerous Universities and other institutions across the UK and internationally. He regularly presents at conferences in the UK and abroad\, and publishes writing and drawing about devising\, interdisciplinary performance and autobiographical theatre. Third Angel’s performance texts are published by Bloomsbury\, and on the company’s web archive.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-154-alex-kelly/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/06/talk154.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250725T160000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250725T190000
DTSTAMP:20250708T135834Z
CREATED:20250708T135833Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250708T135834Z
UID:916-1753459200-1753470000@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:PRG Presents
DESCRIPTION:You are invited to a short\, informal event sharing new work by artist/researchers from the Performance Research Group at Manchester School of Art. An opportunity to see new work in development and offer feedback towards its future. \n\n\n\nThe line-up for our inaugural event includes Performance Research Group members: Rachel Rimmer-Piekarczyk\, Kevin Egan\, Joe Ward Munrow\, Adinda van ‘t Klooster\, Neil Mackenzie\, and Michael Pinchbeck\, as well as our Postgraduate members\, Peader Kirk\, Meriel Price and Daniel Tierney. 
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/prg-presents/
LOCATION:Contact Theatre\, Oxford Road\, Manchester\, M15 6JA
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/07/PRG-Presents.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250715T170000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250715T183000
DTSTAMP:20250630T123708Z
CREATED:20250630T122138Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250630T123708Z
UID:861-1752598800-1752604200@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #153: Zodwa Nyoni
DESCRIPTION:This event is taking place as part of AHEAD x Bunker Talks series \n\n\n\nZodwa Nyoni is a Zimbabwean-born playwright\, librettist\, screenwriter and director. Her debut play\, BOI BOI IS DEAD won the Channel 4 Playwrights’ Scheme in 2014. It was also a finalist for the international Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2014/15. Since\, her plays have been produced in the UK\, France\, Germany\, USA\, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Her most recent work\, THE DARKEST PART OF THE NIGHT (Kiln Theatre) was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award and George Devine Award 2021. It was ranked as one of the best plays of 2022 by The Independent (UK). \n\n\n\nZodwa’s plays are published by Bloomsbury. She has lectured in poetry and theatre since 2018. She is currently a Lecturer in Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University and an associate dramaturg for Tiata Fahodzi and Fifth Word Theatre. She has written two radio plays\, LOVE AGAIN (BBC Radio 3) and A KHOISAN WOMAN (Drama on 3); and three short films: MAHOGANY (National Trust and 24 Design Ltd) and NOTES ON BEING A LADY (New Creatives / BBC Arts) and the award winning\, THE ANCESTORS (BBC Films and BFI Network). \n\n\n\nZodwa was an international fellow on Oxbelly’s inaugural Episodic Program in Greece. She is a BAFTA Connect member and was on the BIFA mentoring programme. She is currently working on Netflix’s spin-off series\, CASTLEVANIA: NOCTURNE; under commission at Manchester Royal Exchange\, Bristol Old Vic and Kiln Theatre; and writing an opera for Buxton International Festival. \n\n\n\nLIBERATION\n\n\n\nHow does a revolution begin and who keeps it going? \n\n\n\nInspired by true events in Black British history\, LIBERATION is a powerful new play from writer Ntombizodwa Nyoni and director Monique Touko tracing the private lives of activists who fought to liberate Africa. \n\n\n\nIt’s 15 October 1945\, Manchester. Africa’s freedom and future is in the hands of her descendants at the Fifth Pan-African Congress at Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall. \n\n\n\nWith decades of championing change under their belts\, emerging African & Caribbean activists and scholars offer new radical ideas of liberation. However\, the organiser\, Trinidadian activist George Padmore is unsure who to pass the baton to. Kwame Nkrumah is fuelled by an idealistic desire to become the first Black president of the Gold Coast. Young\, resourceful Jamaican social worker Alma La Badie is grappling with the truth behind who must be sacrificed for the cause. And what of the revered Amy Ashwood-Garvey how does she ensure the voices of Black women are heard? \n\n\n\nA story of hope\, friendship and the consequences of a long-denied awakening unravels in the conference halls and bars of Chorlton\, but at what cost? \n\n\n\nThis groundbreaking new play developed 80 years after the Congress introduces the people behind the movement. LIBERATION gets to the heart of how our future is built\, how our leaders are made\, and how dreams are realised. With generational shifts and gender politics added to a swirling mix of power dynamics\, LIBERATION asks timeless questions about revolution\, freedom\, and what it means to be an activist. \n\n\n\nReceiving its World Premiere as part of Manchester International Festival 2025\, LIBERATION includes composition by Ife Ogunjobi from the Brit Award-winning Ezra Collective and was commissioned by the Royal Exchange Theatre. \n\n\n\nCommissioned by the Royal Exchange Theatre. \n\n\n\nProduced by the Royal Exchange Theatre and Factory International\, Manchester.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-153-zodwa-nyoni/
LOCATION:Grosvenor east\, Cavendish Street\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=application/pdf:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/06/PRINT_Liberation-Poster-A3-1.pdf
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250701T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250701T190000
DTSTAMP:20241113T154431Z
CREATED:20241113T154357Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241113T154431Z
UID:586-1751391000-1751396400@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #152: Lena Šimić x James Marriott
DESCRIPTION:Dr Lena Šimić is Liverpool-based transnational performance maker\, local politician\, activist\, pedagogue and scholar researching contemporary performance and the maternal as well as arts responses to the climate crisis. Reader in Drama at Edge Hill University. Lena was a co-organiser of the Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home between 2008 and 2018. Together with Emily Underwood-Lee\, she ran the AHRC funded Performance and the Maternal project with a number of outputs including Manifesto for Maternal Performance (Art) 2016! (2017). Her short play\, Three Conversations in collaboration with her sons\, Neal and Sid\, was commissioned for Climate Change Theatre Action in 2019. She has recently collaborated with James Marriott\, Platform\, on an audio play Three Sisters: A Story from the Climate Future (Big Light\, 2023). \n\n\n\nJames Marriott works as part of Platform\, which since 1983 has combined art\, activism\, education and research. He is co-creator a wide range of projects from performance to download-opera\, from film to non-fiction books. These include And While London Burns (2007)\, The Oil Road (Verso 2012)\, Crude Britannia (Pluto 2021) and The Oil Machine (BBC 2021).
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-152-lena-simic-x-james-marriott/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2024/11/tempImageuTDhDP-scaled.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250603T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250603T190000
DTSTAMP:20250108T170647Z
CREATED:20241207T163332Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250108T170647Z
UID:650-1748971800-1748977200@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #151: Manchester Academy of Fine Arts
DESCRIPTION:MAFA presents a discussion on “Looking Back\, Moving Forward – Creating\, Collecting and Conserving Art in Manchester”. Contributors include Hannah Williamson\, Curator of Fine Art at Manchester Art Gallery\, Peter Davis\, MAFA Archivist and Wendy Levy\, Gallerist in Manchester for 40 years. Chairing the discussion will be Dr Fionna Barber\, Reader in Art History in the Department of Art and Performance at Manchester School of Art. \n\n\n\nHannah Williamson has been a Curator at Manchester Art Gallery for 12 years. Previously she worked at Hat Works\, the hat museum in Stockport\, and at the National Trust’s Quarry Bank Mill. She is interested in connecting industrial and social history with art history\, and in exploring lesser-known art movements. Her favourite curating cuts across time to make unexpected combinations\, and her keenest professional pleasure is found in talking about art. Hannah has recently started a PhD in museum history at Manchester Metropolitan University. She lives in Macclesfield and is proud to serve on the board of trustees of Macclesfield Silk Museum. \n\n\n\nPeter Davis has been the Archivist for MAFA since 2022. During recent exhibitions he has produced several public presentations for visitors to Manchester Art Gallery\, Dean Clough\, and Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery related to the MAFA archives which are housed at Manchester Art Gallery. He is a Northwest based professional artist\, currently creating urban realist and contemporary figurative paintings. He has exhibited in numerous mixed exhibitions throughout the UK\, in addition to MAFA exhibitions; in 2020\, he was selected for the John Moores Painting Prize. As well as being a member of MAFA\, Peter also belongs to the Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP) and Castlefield Gallery Associates. \n\n\n\nWendy Levy is a patron of MAFA. Wendy’s career as a gallerist began in 1971 at the Pitcairn Galleries Knutsford\, learning her gallery skills under the guidance of Peter Burdett\, the founder and proprietor\, eventually taking on the gallery as her own. \n\n\n\nPitcairn Galleries showed work by eminent artists including Sir Matthew Smith\, L.S. Lowry\, Joseph Herman\, David Bomberg\, and Elisabeth Frink\, as well as the newer artists of the day such as William Ralph Turner\, Geoffrey Key and Dawn Rowland. Later\, she went on to show work by Henry Moore\, Barbara Hepworth\, Ben Nicholson\, Winifred Nicholson and many others from the St Ives School. From 2000 until 2013\, Wendy continued showing work by renowned artists in her new gallery in Didsbury; \n\n\n\nin addition\, helping newer North West artists\, including Manchester Academicians\, by representing\, nurturing and assisting in establishing their careers. She continues to support them by presenting exhibitions in her online gallery\, working on a one to one basis with collectors.  \n\n\n\nThis talk is a precursor to an exhibition by the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts at Manchester Cathedral entitled ‘Voyages’ ( July 2nd – August 31st 2025)\, where the idea of discovery through a voyage personal to the artists is reflected in their works. The catalogue accompanying the exhibition will feature contributions by the participants extracted from the Bunker Talks. \n\n\n\n. \n\n\n\nFind out more about MAFA at www.mafa.org.uk
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-151-manchester-academy-of-fine-arts/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2024/12/Mo-Andrews-A-Family-Affair.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250506T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250506T190000
DTSTAMP:20241113T145507Z
CREATED:20241113T145406Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241113T145507Z
UID:583-1746552600-1746558000@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #150: Ray Grewal
DESCRIPTION:Ray Grewal is an award-winning writer who has worked across film\, theatre\, TV and radio. He has also worked as a Production and Development Executive at Creative England on a slate of short films and features\, a script editor at the BBC in various departments and he mentors film makers for the BFI and Ffilm Cymru. \n\n\n\nAs an educator\, he has run writing workshops at the ShortFLIX event in Birmingham\, for Creative England in Manchester\, for the BFI Northern Film Hub in Leeds and for Ffilm Cymru in Cardiff. He has lectured in screenwriting at Regent’s University\, Bournemouth University\, the London Film Academy\, the MetFilm School and he was a script consultant at the London Film School. \n\n\n\nHe received his PGCHE from Regent’s University\, his MA in theatre from Goldsmith’s College and his BA in filmmaking specialising in screenwriting from the University of Northumbria. He is programme leader for MA Performance (Writing) at Central Saint Martins (UAL).
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-150-ray-grewal/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2024/11/Ray-Grewal.webp
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250402T170000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250402T190000
DTSTAMP:20241113T145158Z
CREATED:20241113T145157Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241113T145158Z
UID:578-1743613200-1743620400@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #149: Amanda Beech x Adam Walker
DESCRIPTION:Amanda Beech x Adam Walker \n\n\n\nAmanda Beech is an artist and writer. In video\, painting and other forms\, her work apprehends structures that subtend and are coextensive with our lived reality. She invests in the capacity for a new form of realism that demands the invention of new explicatory forms of reason and contingency. Her work draws from philosophical theory\, science\, literature and real historical and contemporary political events\, all hinging upon the violence of capitalism\, liberalism and revolutionary thought and practice. The proposition that art can produce a form of intelligence beyond the principles of capitalism necessarily brings the work to question the limits that art has historically set for itself by means of its critiques. \n\n\n\nShe has exhibited widely in various Biennales and has written texts for anthologies and museum catalogues. She has edited numerous books including being the contributing editor of Construction Site for Possible Worlds\, 2019\, Urbanomic/MIT Press and Cold War\, Cold World\, Urbanomic\, 2015. Her recent writing includes an essay on Jean Francois Lyotard’s exhibition Les Immateriaux for Beyond Matter\, ZKM\, Karlsruhe\, NL\, and recent exhibitions include Future Possessive\, Front Gallery\, Los Angeles\, and Delphic Future\, Twelve Ten Gallery\, Chicago. Recent video work \ includes Map of the Bomb\, 2022 a five channel video installation on encryption and feminist noir. In 2024 Beech was visiting professor at Aalto University Finland\, Vienna University of the Angerwandte\, and Vienna Akademie of Art\, Austria. She also presented keynotes for the conferences Desire and Capitalism (Erasmus University\, Rotterdam\, NL) and Marxism and the Pittsburgh School ( UCL\, London\, UK). Forthcoming work includes a new book on art\, aesthetics and philosophy; The Intolerable Image\, from MIT. \n\n\n\nAdam Walker is an artist and writer. Their practice is research-led\, critically and reflexively considering structures of inequality\, not least their own complicit position amidst these. Text sits at the centre of their practice\, including its extensions into digital terrains as code and data. Interruption and impropriety are sought: subtexts and counter-texts which might interrupt dominant textual flows. \n\n\n\nTheir work has been exhibited\, performed\, published and commissioned by institutions including the ICA\, Tate\, Tyneside Cinema\, Coventry Biennial\, Serpentine Gallery\, Ma Bibliotheque and NEoN Digital Arts Festival within the UK; Skelf and Hoax online; Yermilov Centre\, Izolyatsia and the House of Cinema in Ukraine; and Adana Archaeological Museum in Turkey. Their book Art\, Labour\, Text and Radical Carewas published in 2023 by Routledge. They are a Lecturer in Fine Art at Manchester School of Art\, Manchester Metropolitan University. \n\n\n\nImage: still from Map of the Bomb\, 2022\, 1:04.00 5 channel video installation commissioned by Fieldwork Marfa
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-149-amanda-beech-x-adam-walker/
LOCATION:SODA\, 14 High Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2024/11/Unknown-1-scaled.jpeg
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250319T183000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250319T190000
DTSTAMP:20250311T181312Z
CREATED:20250311T181220Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250311T181312Z
UID:738-1742409000-1742410800@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Tessallation
DESCRIPTION:Emerging out of a series of workshops exploring the dialogical relationship between contemporary dance technique\, improvisation and creative reflection\, this choreography has been created by Rachel Rimmer-Piekarczyk in collaboration with a group of participants including professional independent artists and students at Manchester Metropolitan University from the MA/MFA Performance\, BA Drama and Contemporary Performance\, BA Acting and BA Fine Art programmes. \n\n\n\nAnd why not stay for Lewys Holt’s 30 Minute Set\, following straight afterwards? Full details\, and tickets here. \n\n\n\nThe project began its development as part of the Future Flares Festival 22-24th January 2025.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/tessallation/
LOCATION:Grosvenor east\, Cavendish Street\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/avif:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2025/03/W1siZiIsInB1YmxpYy8yMDI1LzIvMjEvMTUvNTcvNDAvOTM2L1Rlc3NlbGxhdGlvbjIuanBlZyJdXQ.avif
ORGANIZER;CN="Neil Mackenzie":MAILTO:n.k.mackenzie@mmu.ac.uk
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250304T170000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250304T183000
DTSTAMP:20241206T212502Z
CREATED:20241206T212345Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241206T212502Z
UID:638-1741107600-1741113000@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #148: Jurriaan Benschop
DESCRIPTION:Jurriaan Benschop in conversation with Jenny Eden \n\n\n\nJurriaan Benschop is a Dutch writer and curator who is based in Athens and Berlin. He is the author of Why Paintings Work (2023) and Salt in the Wound. Encountering Contemporary Artists across Europe (2019). His reviews and essays are published in Artforum International\, The Brooklyn Rail\, on Arterritory as well as in numerous \n\n\n\nexhibition catalogues and artists’ books. Exhibitions that he has curated include Material World (Tartu Art House\, 2024) What we Learn from Land and Sea (Cycladic Arts\, Paros\, 2023)\, A Grammar of Gestures (Kourd Gallery\, Athens\, 2021-22)\, Taking Root (KIT\, Düsseldorf\, 2019-20) and A Matter of Touch (Kunst- und Projekthaus Torstrasse 111\, Berlin\, 2020). He has been lecturing at art schools and universities in Los Angeles\, Chicago\, Detroit\, Bloomington IN\, Riga\, Tallinn\, Vienna\, Helsinki and other cities. \n\n\n\nBunker Talks \n\n\n\nThis event is part of Bunker Talks. Bunker Talks invite artists and researchers to talk about who they are and what they do. Curated by the Performance Research Group at Manchester School of Art\, Bunker Talks explore geopolitical\, ecological or economic concerns. The talks create space for critical encounters\, presentations\, provocation and dialogue. \n\n\n\nOriginally conceived in the pandemic to explore how artists\, writers\, curators and researchers continued to make and share their work\, live Bunker Talks now take place at The Salutation every month. Since 2020\, over 145 talks have been hosted by Art & Performance Researchers and colleagues from across the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. All talks are recorded\, edited\, captioned and then archived to create an online catalogue\, capturing how artists\, makers and curators think about the world today. Find previous talks here: https://www.art.mmu.ac.uk/bunkertalks/
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-148-jurriaan-benschop/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2024/12/Unknown-scaled.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250225T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250225T190000
DTSTAMP:20241113T144734Z
CREATED:20241022T075002Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241113T144734Z
UID:325-1740504600-1740510000@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #147: Lynn Setterington
DESCRIPTION:ynn Setterington is an internationally recognised artist working in the textiles arena. Her work explores contemporary issues in society and how stitch can be used to commemorate people and communities. Her quilts and cloths are held in many major public museums including the V&A\, Crafts Council\, IQSC and Whitworth Art Gallery. In the 1990s she became known for her use of kantha embroidery and quilts. Since the 2000’s she has used textiles as a method to share with and commemorate communities and celebrate the everyday. In 2010 she began an extensive study of an overlooked aspect of social history and folk art in the form of signature cloths\, working with groups in the US\, India\, Bangladesh and the UK. \n\n\n\nBorn in Yorkshire\, Lynn trained at York College of Arts and Technology and Goldsmiths College London. She has been a Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University in the School of Art since 1992 and in 2009 was awarded a Public Engagement Fellowship. She is an Associate Fellow of the International Quilt Study Center in the US and in 2010 received their visiting Fellowship. \n\n\n\nLynn’s PhD from UCA\, Farnham builds on her extensive knowledge to investigate the hidden values and tensions in stitch-based engagement including the intertwining of the ethical and aesthetics.
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-147-lynn-setterington/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2024/10/Lynn-Setterington-textile-artist-safety-net-1536x1525-1.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250204T160000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250204T170000
DTSTAMP:20250108T170538Z
CREATED:20241022T074815Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250108T170538Z
UID:322-1738684800-1738688400@performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Bunker Talk #146: Stephen Scott-Bottoms x Andy Smith
DESCRIPTION:Stephen Scott-Bottoms\n\n\n\nStephen Scott-Bottoms is a writer\, researcher and theatre-maker. He is currently Professor of Contemporary Theatre and Performance at the University of Manchester\, having previously taught in Leeds and Glasgow. Steve is the author of several books\, most recently Incarceration Games: A History of Role-Play in Psychology\, Prisons and Performance (University of Michigan Press \, 2024)\, which reinvestigates some notorious social psychology experiments as forms of improvised theatre. His recent work as a practitioner has focused on humanising complex questions of flood and climate resilience through storytelling methods. Steve is a Creative Associate of the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission\, and co-founder of the social enterprise Vesper Hill. \n\n\n\nwww.vesperhill.org \n\n\n\nAndy Smith\n\n\n\nAndy Smith is a theatre-maker based in the North-West of England and part-time lecturer in theatre practice at the University of Manchester. His most recent works include the plays The Preston Bill (2015) SUMMIT(2017)\, as well as the 2018 performance work COMMONISM\, a collaboration with the Norwegian artist Amund Sjølie Sveen. Andy has also collaborated with the theatre maker Tim Crouch since 2004\, co-directing (along with Karl James) a number of plays including An Oak Tree\, The Author and most recently Truth’s A Dog Must To Kennel. \n\n\n\nFor the last six years he has been developing a longer form project called PLAYS FOR THE PEOPLE. Rather than be performed by actors for an audience\, these short works are for audiences and groups of people to meet and read together. Each play aims to present ideas\, questions and dilemmas around their themes\, encourage discussion between participants. The latest and most ambitious of these works is A CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY\, which tells a story about a group of people meeting to discuss the climate emergency. It has been created in collaboration with applied arts practitioner Lynsey O’Sullivan. \n\n\n\nwww.andysmiththeatre.com
URL:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/event/bunker-talk-146-stephen-scott-bottoms-x-andy-smith/
LOCATION:The Salutation\, Higher Chatham Street\, Manchester\, Lancashire\, M15 6ED\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://performanceresearch.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/475/2024/10/talk146.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Michael Pinchbeck":MAILTO:m.pinchbeck@mmu.ac.uk
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