actuality

memory and return – Tri Bywyd (Three Lives) 1995

by Michael Shanks

On the return of the past: document, memory, and archive. Katie Pearl (theatre director and professor at Wesleyan – see her extraordinary work here – [Link]) recently got in touch asking about the performance in Wales in 1995 of Tri Bywyd (translation – Three Lives), a work of theatre/archaeology by arts company Brith Gof. Specifically…

Cardiff 1919 – theatre/archaeology

by Michael Shanks

A team from National Theatre Wales, featuring Kyle Legall and Mike Pearson, have just published a powerful work of theatre/archaeology* in their series Storm, about the race riots in Cardiff Wales in 1919. It takes the form of a graphic novel with animated video and voice over. A timely intervention. https://www.cardiff1919.wales – [Link] *theatre/archaeology –…

Ruins – Josef Koudelka

by Michael Shanks

Thoughts on the universality and valency of ruination. With a comment about the toppling of statues of erstwhile heroes. A couple of months ago Alain Schnapp was talking with me about his new book, a universal history of ruins, an exploration of an archaeological sensibility that takes us back to antiquity [Link]. I have just…

Janus – hindsight and foresight, creative pragmatics

by Michael Shanks

We are moving on with our JANUS research initiative (core team Victor Taratukhin, Natalia Pulyavina, myself) – [Link]. Our case is that being mindful of the past, hindsight, is essential to being able to act for the future. Looking back, researching and exploring, that we might be better prepared for uncertain futures. JANUS – archaeological…

Confronting the Classics

by Michael Shanks

Project Greece and Rome – [Link] Classics is the study of Ancient Greece and Rome. Or is it? Mary Beard, Cambridge University Professor, the popular “Oxbridge Don“ of the British media, deals with the question of the object of Classics in her book Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures, and Innovations (Liveright 2013). I had a…