Guddling About

Donald, M. (2020) Guddling About. [Website]

Abstract

Guddling About is a practice-research project that uses performance to explore human-water interrelations, specifically around rivers and water infrastructure, in diverse cultural and material contexts. It takes the form of an iterative suite of performances, each also described as a score or set of instructions. In Guddling About performance is understood as a more-than-human practice: something that humans and other-than-humans do, and do together in ways that are complex, entangled and in flux. Guddling About is devised and realised by (human) artist-researchers Minty Donald and Nick Millar, with water, rivers and many more other-than-human collaborators. Guddling About asks: What might performing with rivers and water infrastructure reveal about the potential of more-than-human performance as an ecological practice? How do the performance tactics employed engage with the paradoxes of more-than-human performance: the inescapability of human subjectivity and corporeality, persistent recourse to human communication systems and values? How might performing with rivers and water infrastructure enable attentiveness to, and enhance understanding of, both the commonality of human-water interrelations and the singular characteristics of human-water inter-dependency in diverse contexts? How might this enhanced understanding of human-water interrelations at local level address humans’ implication in water-related environmental issues, such as flooding, drought, and pollution? Guddle. Scots. Verb. 1/ To act in an undirected or improvised way. To mess about. 2/ To catch fish by hand, groping under rocks or riverbanks where they lurk. Guddle. Scots. Noun. A muddle, tangle or confusion.

• Item Type: Website
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Donald, Professor Minty
• Authors: Donald, M.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies