Conference Agenda

The aim of this proposal is to consider the documentary theatre practice experienced through a workshop on the aim of Agro-Ecological Transition (AET). It took place a week in December 2022, near Montpellier. The partners worked at the crossroads of the National Support Disposal (NSD) for the French Agricultural Training System and the nation-wide Institut Agro (Montpellier-Rennes-Dijon) agro-engineer higher education. The documentary theatre practice was chosen in order to otherwise experiment the usual AET sessions and understand the skills development. On the one hand, the sensitive dimension of artistic practices has already been introduced (Covez, 2022; 2016) as well as the intercultural one (Covez, 2009). On the other hand, the capacity of embodying the agricultural concept through design and culinary theatre has also been demonstrated (Covez, 2017). Besides, since 2019, the agroecological transition has become the priority of the institution. The project creating a mixed documentary activity has been financed through a higher agricultural institute initiative and the ministry of agriculture through the NSD. The framework of the “human agroecology” is used so as to underline “the social representations that structure the relations between individuals, social groups, their practices and environments” (R. Audet, C. Gendron, 2012). Besides, In he actual academic t discussion on transition concept (Hervé, 2022) makes it very much valuable. Then, the systemic and critical agroecologies are not sufficient to analyse the representations and socio-cultural practices that have to change as the lecturers and teachers community attest. Then, the theatre practice mixing high-schools teachers and engineers students, represent a real educational and pedagogical opportunity to experiment a new way of learning the AET.

So the question is: “Can a documentary theatre practice be put to the service of the engineers-student AET education ?”. Actually, the definition of agroecological education does not really exist but rather focuses on teaching professional, technical and agricultural matters. Our aim is rather to consider learning it as an emotionally, bodily, individual and collective creating activity that can be put to the service of a better understanding. In fact, it is as any social activity involving human beings which is very much complex. More than that, the transition education has to be considered in the global climate change and after the Covid pandemic that makes it not only cognitive but also at a very high level of emotions and eco-anxiety.

The hypothesis is that documentary theatre partnership represents a tool for educational change in respect to transition. On the one hand, the practice may create a shared and renewed understanding of the transition notion enhanced by the final work representation. On the other hand, the artistic partnership may help creating an educational situation that can enable the embodiment of change. The practice has also been created in the aim of exploring the developed skills: cognitive, communicative, relationship, emotional, creative, intercultural, intergenerational... that can be put to the service of working as an engineer in transition. We would like to get a better understanding of the benefits for the students, as their profession will consist in change making. The difficulty would lie on the tension to get open to the sensitivity and intellectually complex dimension of Transition. Finally, we think that documentary practice methodology, based on sources and concept work, helps creating a quite integrating and balancing situation with cognitive and bodily activities. The acceptance of the sensitive process inside us and all together enriches but also provokes some unbalance and challenge we have to face to keep on sharing, acting and creating. Taking risks and improving may be put to the benefits of a transition education.

January 2023.

Rehearsal. I'll start today with an activity transmitted to me by a director: "from 1 to 5: how do you feel?". I didn´t use the description of this exercise at any time in the thesis. I say to the actor by my side:

- The exercise researching, just as the artistic practices exist in a place that has both unrepeatable and ephemeral moments on one hand and a permanent interaction on the other.

This description contains the possibility of feeling the characteristic of an opportune moment that lives “in between” – as a dropdown time suspended in the present – and the repetition of actions that implies absence.

With this study is intended to understand how the perception of qualitative time have changed, and what place occupy, in our daily lives. The characteristics of the experience of qualitative time are based in the classical concepts of kairos and otium.

The objective is to conceive possibilities to the fruition of Blank Space (qualitative empty time to be filled significantly), through the convergence of: the analyses of the creative processes of Portuguese directors (João Brites, João Mota, Luís Miguel Cintra and Miguel Seabra); autobiographical experiences; and a theoretical construct based on the writings of various authors.

The research questions present in this study are: How is it possible to build a Blank Space in our everyday lives? – and – What tools used in creative theatrical processes can contribute to the experience of qualitative time through the construction of Blank Spaces?

The qualitative time designation contains a specific meaning that encompasses within itself the characteristics of kairos and otium. An otium that claims a contemplative action, emphasizing the dimensions of freedom and choices for personal benefit and prioritizes the particular experience and involvement (Laidlaw, 1968). A kairos that is identified when an action should take place: opportune and special time; and when a constellation of events presents us with a critical moment for which a creative response has to be given – an infinite individual critical instant (Kelman, 1968; Smith, 1969).

The concept of Blank Space is an aggregator of other ideas noted in the discourse of the directors whose creative processes I chose to study. This design eventually became the core of this thesis, as well as all the borderline concepts and practices that arise from it. Within the theoretical knowledge of the concepts associated with time (kairos and otium) are the practices of “emptiness desiring” (Onfray, 2003) that build a space-time for possibility. The instigating interventions of emptiness result from the existence of borderline concepts, that imply certain actions that can be apprehended throw the process of Theater creations, which are: “in between”, “stand by”, silence, solitude, and forgetfulness. At the base of these constructs is the availability for interiority.

The multiple concepts that this study carries had in its base several authors' thinking that allows to establish guidelines for the theoretical construct. Aristotle (2008) and Saint Augustine (1999) had created a relationship with the main concept and the thoughts of Seneca (2004) allow the definition of the experience of qualitative time. It was, nevertheless, in Blanchot (2001, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011) that it was found what would become the basis of the practice of Blank Space, as well as their borderline concepts because of his close relationship with the idea of emptiness. The constructions of the “self” in Onfray (2003) implicates the concepts of time, kairos, idleness, emptiness, and permitted to build a vehicle of dialogue with other authors. Extracts from Crary (2018) and Han (2016) permitted an intense reflexivity about the modern way of living time.

In the 21st century, it is essential to think about the skills and abilities that students need to develop, thinking about the future. The main element of the educational process should be social skills, which from the personal level of the student will form the common good of society and the whole world (UNESCO, 2021). Social skills are characterized as a set of skills that promote and facilitate human interaction with other people (Odiņa, 2004). Theater art is a collective form of artistic expression. Theater art has social, educational and therapeutic aspects (Krušic, 2015). Theater art in its essence is based on social skills, most fundamentally - on cooperation. Theater art promotes democratic processes and cohesion processes in society.

In the study, combining the Germanic and Anglo-Saxon approaches, theater art is seen as a form of artistic expression, the main task of which is to promote the formation of the personality of students by developing the creativity of each individual. In theater arts, students can learn acting skills, stage speech, improvisation, etc. essential skills that promote and contribute to the implementation of the above-mentioned task (Skola2030 model program of theater arts).

In the study, combining the Germanic and Anglo-Saxon approaches, theater art is seen as a form of artistic expression, the main task of which is to promote the formation of the personality of students by developing the creativity of each individual. In theater arts, students can learn acting skills, stage speech, improvisation, etc. essential skills that promote and contribute to the implementation of the above-mentioned task (Skola2030 model program of theater arts). Since every pedagogical activity begins with setting goals, this issue is also relevant in the theory and practice of theater art. Studies in theater pedagogy show that educational goals have been studied so far mostly only from the perspective of one actor. In the 70s of the 20th century, in the Germanic cultural space, the educational goals, which are essential in theater pedagogy, were formulated, putting forward the socialization of students as the main educational goal of theater art. (Ritter, Nickel, 1976). At the turn of the century, one of the central educational goals of theater pedagogy is the end result, i.e. a publicly shown performance (Kempe, Winkelmann, 1998), but in the 21st century – aesthetic education (Weintz, 2008) and the influence of theater as a medium (Lille , 2013). The official goals of theater pedagogy formulated in the documents can be in confrontation with other educational goals set by the implementers of the theater art, namely teachers, directors, students, as well as parents. Therefore, the question of how to synchronize/consolidate/integrate the goals of these different groups of actors in the process of theater pedagogy remains relevant. The purpose of the study is to investigate the educational goals of various groups of actors in the operation of school theaters and to develop the methodology of consolidation/integration/synchronization of these goals, developing theater pedagogy as a sub-sector of educational sciences in Latvia.