The interdisciplinary research project is the first comprehensive examination of the theatre and dance practices by and with disabled artists in Switzerland, including different language regions.
In cooperation with the Accademia Teatro Dimitri in Verscio, the Universities of Basel and Berne, several theatre and dance companies as well as festivals in the German, French and Italian speaking parts of Switzerland, the aim is to encourage the discourse of disability at art schools and universities and to transfer the resulting findings into practice. The focus is put on three studies, which investigate performer training, reception and rehearsal processes. All studies are based on methods and theories from theatre studies and disability studies, artistic research, and (video-)ethnography.
The sub-study “Disabled Bodies in Discourse” conducted by Accademia Teatro Dimitri investigates the connections between physical theatre and theatre made by disabled actors. Points of enquiry in the linking of these fields are actors’ training and the development of original dramaturgy by performers.
The second sub-study "Creation Processes in Theatre by and with Disabled Actors and Directors" is linked to the long-term performance project Freie Republik HORA, an artistic long-term experiment. In this process-orientated project, the members of the Theater HORA ensemble develop directing projects. The research team examines how systems of making theatre are developed in the rehearsal space as an aesthetic as well as social space.
The focus of the Ph.D project "Disabled Theater – The Beginning of a Shift of Emphasis in Reception" is put on the reception of theatre by and with professional actors with cognitive disabilities and the development of audience response methods in the field of performance and disability. The starting point for the research question is the beginning public effectiveness of this theatre practice after the production Disabled Theater, which Theater HORA developed with French choreographer Jérôme Bel in 2011/2012.
Two stage laboraties in cooperation with the BA Contemporary Dance at ZHdK and the Accademia Teatro Dimitri in Verscio transfer and further develop the research results into practice.
The results of the project will be presented and discussed in June 2017 in the context of the dance and theatre festivals in Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Lugano under the banner of IntegrART/ Migros Culture Percentage.