This conference explores the question of the extent to which the social and dialogical practices which are foregrounded in improvisation are themselves bearers of aesthetic effects. At the same time, speakers will consider how social, cultural, economic and political forces condition the aesthetic practices and values of improvised performance. In this way the conference is concerned with re-theorising the nature of the aesthetic in improvisational and related creative practices.
From August 29 - September 12, ICASP will host the 2010 Summer Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation on the University of Guelph campus. Project participants with broad-ranging expertise will lead invigorating workshops, and guest speakers Tomie Hahn & Curtis Bahn and Bob Ostertag will give stimulating keynote addresses exploring this year's topic "Envisioning Improvisation as Social Practice".
A new issue of Critical Studies in Improvisation / Etudes critiques en improvisation is now available. Vol. 5 No. 1 is a General Topics Issue and can be found on the journal's website at www.criticalimprov.com .
ICASP Project Director Ajay Heble and Guelph Site Coordinator Ellen Waterman recently travelled to Halifax, Nova Scotia to make a presentation at the Canadian New Music Network’s Forum 2010. Having introduced the project, they focused on ICASP’s outreach initiatives, emphasizing and describing the importance of partnerships between arts organizations, street-level community service groups, and university researchers in fostering more inclusive communities. For more information about CNMN and the forum, please see: www.newmusicnetwork.ca .
Critical Studies in Improvisation/Etudes critiques en improvisation will publish a special issue on Brazilian Improvisations co-edited by Jason Stanyek and Alessandra Santos. Submissions are due by July 10, 2010 and will be accepted in both English and Portuguese. For more information please contact Professor Stanyek (jstanyek@nyu.edu) and Professor Santos (a.santos@utah.edu).
Critical Studies in Improvisation / Études critiques en improvisation considerará trabalhos para um volume especial sobre “Improvisações Brasileiras” organizado por Jason Stanyek e Alessandra Santos. Por favor envie seu texto completo até o dia 10 de julho de 2010. Consideraremos textos em português ou inglês. Esta edição será parcialmente bilíngüe—uma seleção de ensaios em português aceitos será traduzida para o inglês. Perguntas poderão ser enviadas diretamente ao Professor Stanyek (jstanyek@nyu.edu) e à Professora Santos (a.santos@utah.edu).
Brazilian Improvisations
From sports to politics, from economics to pedagogy, from the arts to the quotidian expanses of everyday Brazilian life, the social and cultural spheres of Brazil have often been characterized as having decidedly improvisative valences. Indeed, the importance of improvisation to the enactment of Brazilianness would seem to be borne out by the sheer abundance of common words and phrases that emphasize extemporaneous action as a crucial modality of being “Brazilian”: jeitinho, malandragem, ginga, jogo de cintura, malícia, mandrake, esperteza, axé, manha, suingue, drible, malabarismo, balanço, equilibrista, pirataria, arranjar-se, molejo, cordialidade, and so on.