Performance and the politics of outer space

My current research centres on the politics of performance and outer space. I approach performance as an object of study, paying attention to artistic and cultural practices that engage with astronomy and astronautics. Here, I draw from the work of several “space artists” such as Katie Paterson, Nahum Romero, and Venza Christ as well as from the work of artists who do not, at first glance, work with space but whose work addresses the politics of land and territory. My argument is simple: the politics of outer space are the politics of the planet. I use performance theory as an entry point to study the performance of scientific and technological practices in the space sector worldwide. My interest is in studying the performativity in and of the social production of outer space, and in the articulation of new and more inclusive frameworks to understand our planetary relationality beyond the current exclusive framework of “outer space”.

This line of work stems from my doctoral dissertation, titled Planetary Performance Theory, and is informing the development of my first monograph, titled Celestial Acts: Planetary Politics of Performance. I have published about this topic in specialised journals and books in the field of theatre and performance studies, which you can find below, along with more information about the research projects titled Performance Studies Space Programme and Dark Matter Wonder. 

Some publications:

PERFORMING LUNAR CLIMATES

Climate Theatre, edited by Denise Varney, Peter Eckersall, and Jennifer Parker-Starbuck (forthcoming 2025)

What can we learn by studying how humanity has portrayed the Moon’s climate? This chapter advances this question to propose a working framework for extraterrestrial bio/necropolitics. It uses George Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon (1902) to argue that, rather than merely sanctioning a correspondence between life and death as equivalent to good and evil, the premise here is that examining how the relationship between climate and death is depicted in space, both in science and fiction, may serve as a powerful entry point for articulating a more contemporary extraterrestrial aesthetics for the performing arts—one with enough political significance to contribute to the discussions surrounding an increasingly necessary celestial and space (post)humanities.

THEATRE, ECOLOGY, OUTER SPACE

The Cambridge Companion to Theatre and Ecology, edited by Carl Lavery (Forthcoming, 2025)

This chapter introduces and problematises outer space as the focus of ecological study and analysis in Theatre and Performance Studies. Its argument is predicated on two premises. First, human epistemologies have been extraterrestrial for some time now. Indigenous peoples and nations have produced knowledge and wisdom related to extraterrestrial phenomena for millennia and have continued to do so well after the rise of astronautical science and practice in the twentieth century. As cultural astronomer Giuglio Magli so powerfully states, ‘individuating the Cosmos - directions, celestial cycles, axis mundi, and the like- and opening up communication between cosmic levels are thus fundamental operations for human societies. The performance of such operations, consequently, yields power’ (Magli 2020: 82). The sky has always been a source of power, and ‘outer space’ is simply a discursive term that defines that power today. Second, there is little doubt that contemporary astronautical science is enabling the human species to gain a deeper understanding of the cosmos and the place of our planet within it, both theoretically and practically. The development of new technological tools blurs the distinction between what we might call a terrestrial and cosmic planetarity, or inner and outer spaces, as one sees, for example, in the pervasive use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology for climate monitoring and performing everyday activities, such as driving to work. Given the significant increase in data gathering and media representation relating to space flight, satellite activity, and space science, there is a growing group of theatre and performance artists whose works enact planetary scenarios at a cosmic scale and thus profoundly rethink what it means to be a human being, an inhabitant of the Earth. Through their expansive definitions of outer space, they not only provide a different, more relational definition of our extraterrestrial condition, they also tap into and express the dizzying ecological sensibility it provokes. To illustrate how theatre can create physical – and thus tangible – connections at the planetary scale, making it a potent mechanism to explore our extraterrestrial condition, I discuss two examples of extraterrestrial theatre: Adriana Knouf’s On your wrist is the universe (2016-7) and Marike Splint’s 59 Acres (2024). These works highlight the possibilities of thinking extraterrestrially without engaging in space flight, clichéd science fiction scenarios, and cosmic imperialism. Both performances require participants to walk as the primary mode of engagement. In using walking as a method, they propose a mode of ecocritical performance predicated on the production of a new planetary intimacy, one in which the human body is shown to be already interacting with stellar and cosmic phenomena that are routinely imagined as existing beyond the immediacy of sensory experience.

RELACIONALIDAD PLANETARIA: EL ESPACIO EXTERIOR DESDE LA TEORÍA DE PERFORMANCE (In Spanish)

Investigación Teatral (2024).

Este artículo aborda la intersección entre los de performance y el estudio crítico del “espacio exterior”. En la primera sección, ofrezco un análisis retórico del discurso conocido como "Elegimos ir a la Luna", que John F. Kennedy dictó en la Universidad de Rice en 1962. En el siguiente apartado, presento la metodología que los estudios de performance pueden emplear para contribuir con el estudio crítico del espacio exterior. Aquí, hago referencia a: 1) la matriz que Henry Lefebvre propone para analizar la construcción social del espacio; 2) la teoría general de performance postulada por Jon McKenzie; y 3) al concepto de performatividad posthumana propuesto por Karen Barad. Establecido este marco teórico, el artículo propone el concepto de relacionalidad planetaria para vislumbrar cómo la principal contribución de los estudios de performance es  politizar acciones colectivas para descolonizar las narrativas y prácticas que marcan el cielo como una frontera susceptible de conquista y dominio. 

(This article addresses the intersection between performance studies and the critical study of outer space. In the first section, I offer a rhetorical analysis of the speech known as "We Choose to Go to the Moon," which John F. Kennedy delivered at Rice University in 1962. In the next section, I present the methodology that performance studies can employ. to contribute to the critical study of outer space. Here, I refer to: 1) the matrix that Henry Lefebvre proposes to analyse the social construction of space; 2) the general theory of performance postulated by Jon McKenzie; and 3) the concept of posthuman performativity proposed by Karen Barad. Established this theoretical framework, the article proposes the concept of planetary relationality to glimpse how the main contribution that I believe performance studies can make is to politicize collective actions to decolonize narratives and practices that mark the sky as a border susceptible to conquest and dominion)

CELESTIAL POLITICS: PERFORMANCE AND THE COSMIC UNDERCLASS

In Identity, Culture, and the Science Performance, Volume 2, edited by Vivian Appler and Meredith Conti, Bloomsbury, 2023.

In this chapter, I make the case that the definition of science performance and its politics can also be extended to instances where the science is hidden from the critical view, but perhaps more importantly, hidden in the folds of what makes a science performance scientific or political in the first place. To advance this point, I propose the notions of the cosmic underclass and the celestial politics of performance. I argue that cultural critique must pay attention to these as most individuals on this planet may be so busy trying to ascertain their right to exist on this planet’s soil that their political and artistic expressions may only imply their concurrent claim to live under a sky of their own.

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TO KNOW OTHERWISE

Seisma Magazine 02 Astrophysics (2021), pp. 234-245.

This article offers a brief historical overview of the intersection between the performing arts and astrophysics.

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NAMING THE COSMOS DEATH: ON PERFORMANCE, ASTRONOMY, AND KATIE PATERSON'S THE DYING STAR LETTERS

Performance Research 22:5 ‘On Names’ (2017) pp.28-34.

Between 2010 and 2016, Scottish artist Katie Paterson (b. 1981) subscribed to a mailing list that alerts astronomers and scientists around the world when the ‘death’ of a star has been observed and recorded. Whenever she received an alarm, Paterson would then write a quick letter announcing the death of that star and send it to a pre-selected gallerist or recipient.   

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ASTROAESTHETICS: PERFORMANCE AND THE RISE OF INTERPLANETARY CULTURE

Theatre Research International, 41:3, pp. 258-275, 2016.

Recent years have seen an increase in extraterrestrial exploration projects. What was once a series of competing displays of Cold War political and military might between the US and the USSR has now re-emerged with international collaborations and fresh contestants that range from newly developed, government-based Space programmes to a growing list of private and corporate investors and entrepreneurs. Historically, performances and performative actions and utterances have been important instruments for the representation and politicization of outer-Space discovery and exploration. 

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EXTRATERRESTRIAL CULTURE: HOW WE EXPRESS OURSELVES THROUGH SPACE EXPLORATION

Guest blog for The Planetary Society. April 2017. 

Terrestrial cultures have (always) had a degree of extraterrestrial-ity in them. Cultural astronomers and archeoastronomers (historians and scientists that work with the history of extraterrestrial observation and its impacts on civilization) have demonstrated that this was already a constant in ancient civilizations, with examples such as the rituals performed in places like Stonehenge and Chichen Itza. Indeed, the extraterrestrial has been a constant feature in the human history.

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DARK MATTER WONDER

Presented by RMIT University School of Design in association with Leonardo and ANAT.

In November 2019, I was part of a special discussion on the artistic and cultural implications of dark matter research. You can watch the video of the panel below.

Dark matter and dark energy is thought to make up ninety-five percent of the universe and is constantly passing through us and our planet. Research into dark matter will soon be undertaken at the Stawell Underground Physics Lab (SUPL) in Western Victoria. The Lab’s location one kilometre underground in the Stawell Gold Mine will provide necessary radiation shielding against background cosmic rays, with the research set to complement that undertaken in the northern hemisphere. This panel discussion explores the potential of artistic research intersections with dark matter scientific research and Indigenous astronomical knowledge. The discussion begins a program of wonderous creative research in relation to dark matter and Indigenous astronomy.