Welcoming speech by
Professor Benjamin Dwyer
Welcoming speech by
Professor Benjamin Dwyer
New Pathways in Improvisation@MDX
4 & 5 November 2021
New Pathways in Improvisation@MDX is a hybrid conference-performance festival directed by Professor Benjamin Dwyer at Middlesex University London (MDX), which features some of the most renowned academics and performing artists currently working in improvisation. What makes this event more exciting is its cross-disciplinary nature exploring the areas of music, dance, theatre, and visual and sonic arts. Today, improvisation draws in many arts practices, but it also reaches out to the social sciences and the politics of real life. It is widely acknowledged that problems, be they cultural, political or social, can no longer be solved by any single approach or method. Creative improvisers are leading the way in finding solutions that are fluid and inter-relational. This event explores ways by which improvisation, as an interdisciplinary happening, can create unique modes of knowledge transfer, contribute to the formation of translative epistemologies (Roth), and thus offer innovative solutions to social, political and even philosophical challenges currently facing us.
Promotional video for New Pathways in Improvisation@MDX
New Pathways in Improvisation@MDX was inaugurated in 2021 and hosted by Middlesex University, London. It featured early-career to world-renowned researchers and improvisers including Charlotte Hug, Jonathan Impett, Nick Roth, Jenn Kirby, Juan Parra Cancino, Vida Midgelow, Jane Bacon, Rob Vesty, Viktória Šinkorová, Pete Gomes, Kate Ryder, Benjamin Dwyer, Tansy Spinks, Olesya Zdorovetska and the student-led ensemble-in-residence at Middlesex University, Scorched Earth.