Entanglements of Two: A Series of Duets
Entanglements of Two: A Series of Duets (Book)
Edited collection presenting an investigation of the entanglement of form and practice seen through the lens of the smallest multiple unit of collaboration: the pair. It focuses on a ten-year period in the work of Karen Christopher, alongside wider reflections on the duet as a concept in artistic and social life. 9 b/w illus. 19 col. illus.
Edition
Drawing out the particularities of working in twos, with a focus on collaborative performance making, this book considers the duet as a particular configuration in which to think, the duo a microcosm of humankind, and presents everyday entanglement of form and practice seen through the lens of the smallest multiple unit.
This book explores the practical, philosophical and aesthetic implications of performers working in pairs. It focuses on a ten-year period in the work of Karen Christopher, alongside wider reflections on the duet as a concept in artistic and social life. The book presents an investigation of the entanglement of form and practice seen through the lens of the smallest multiple unit of collaboration: the pair.
During this ten-year period, Christopher set out to create a series of duets by working with one other artist. The 25 pieces in the collection includes reflections from an international group of collaborators, artists, linguists, physicists, theologians, philosophers and performance scholars. Many of them deal with the question of artistic collaboration and entanglement, contemplating the significance of those terms both on an interpersonal and global level.
This book provides a fascinating insight into the creative working process of a particular artist, whilst providing a blueprint for how collaboration might take place. There are many passages that might provide inspiration for other artists and overall the book makes a moving and heartfelt plea for interpersonal open-ness and mutual investment.
Primary readership will be among international theatre-makers, artists, performance and art scholars, philosophers, teachers, directors, actors, dancers, performance artists and those interested in creative and personal writing about performance, art and art-making. It will be of particular relevance to those with an interest in Karen Christopher, or in the other contributors.
Mary Paterson is an independent writer, researcher and curator. With Intellect she previously published Joshua Sofaer: Performance | Objects | Participation (2020), co-edited with Roberta Mock.
Karen Christopher is a collaborative performance maker, performer, and teacher. Her company, Haranczak/ Navarre Performance Projects, has been engaged in creating a series of duet performances. Karen was a member of the influential Chicago-based Goat Island performance group for 20 years.
[1]
Opening gambit
Karen Christopher
[2]
Foreword
Season Butler
[3]
Haranczak/Navarre Performance Projects
Duet collaborations, 2010-21
[4]
Introductory fragment #1: the two of you
Karen Christopher
[5]
Between Two Somethings
J. R. Carpenter
[6]
Duet Walk
Karen Christopher & Mary Paterson
[7]
Resonance of Two
Karen Christopher
[8]
Six Practices of Learning Together in Havruta
Orit Kent
[9]
Introductory fragment #2: heart and lungs
Karen Christopher
[10]
Consider This (Control Signal)
Mary Paterson
[11]
Staying with the tremble
Eirini Kartsaki
[12]
What never stops?
Joe Kelleher
[13]
Invisible partners remain themselves inside
Litó Walkey
[14]
The Promise of More to Come (So Below)
Mary Paterson
[15]
On creating a climate of attention: the composition of our work
Karen Christopher & Sophie Grodin
[16]
Not so much balanced as balancing (miles & miles)
Mary Paterson
[17]
The collaborative artistic working process of Control Signal:
A drama-linguistic exploration of the shifting of roles
Andrea Milde
[18]
Introductory fragment #3: tangled
Karen Christopher
[19]
Imagining Seven Falls
Mary Paterson
[20]
Introductory fragment #4: a lot of rope
Karen Christopher
[21]
Always On Uneven Ground
Rajni Shah
[22]
TwoFold: Questions
Mary Paterson
[23]
A Physics Duet
David Berman
[24]
Conclusion: I have been thinking of you this whole time
Mary Paterson
[25]
Diffractions: record of a passage
David Williams
[26]
Contributors’ biographies
[27]
Acknowledgments
'Entanglements of Two works, like much performance work, by slow and considered associative thinking. Back and forth ideas go, page and eye, words and reader, meaning and mind, reflecting upon ten years of duet performances whilst also – as the back cover puts it – ‘exploring the practical, philosophical, and aesthetic implications of working in pairs and offer[ing] wider reflections on the duet as a concept in artistic and social life’. [...] So far I think this book is a call to action, a learning tool.'
‘This book provides a fascinating insight into the creative working process of a particular artist, whilst providing a blueprint for how collaboration might take place. There are many passages which might provide inspiration for
other artists and overall the book makes a moving and heartfelt plea for interpersonal open-ness and mutual investment.’
