PhD defence: Charlotte Østergaard

On January 15, 2025, it is time for Malmö Theatre Academy's doctoral student Charlotte Østergaard's defense with the research project Crafting Material Bodies - exploring co-creative costume processes.

On the stage of Bryggeriteatern, Charlotte Østergaard will defend her doctoral thesis Crafting Material Bodies - exploring co-creative costume processes, where Østergaard examines the relational relationships between textile and human. Read more about the research project below.

The defense is open to the public and will also be available via Zoom:
https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/65506891525

Further information

Date: 13.00 on January 15, 2025 
Address: Bryggeriteatern, Bergsgatan 31, Malmö
Research title: Crafting Material Bodies - exploring co-creative costume processes

Opponent: Dr. Donatella Barbieri, University of the Arts London 
Chair: Sven Bjernstedt, Malmö Academy of Theater 

Examining committee: Professor Henrik Frisk, Dr. Anne Louise Bang, Dr. Rachel Hann and Dr. Madeline Taylor.
Main supervisor: Dr. Sofia Pantouvaki - scenographer and Professor of Costume Design at Aalto University, Finland. 
Second supervisor: Dr. Camilla Eeg-Tverbakk - dramaturge and Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway.

Crafting Material Bodies – exploring co-creative costume processes   

At the heart of this research are relational encounters between people and textile materials. As the title crafting material bodies indicates the research explores how human-bodies are crafted by material-bodies (costume) and how we (humans) in explorative and co-creative situations relate to, affect and become affected by other human and more-than human bodies.       

The research has four focal themes – crafting, listening, hosting and co-creating – which are explored though three artistic projects. The artistic project AweAre – a movement quintet explores the act listening, Community Walk explores the act of hosting and Conversation Costume explores the act of co-creating and all three projects explores different aspects of crafting. As the themes are entangled all three projects holds aspects of the four themes.

In the artistic projects I invite fellow artists like performers and designers to explore specific costumes (that connect two or more people) with me. As co-creators, I invite the fellow artists to engage, respond, inform,influence and/or interrupt our co-creative costume explorations in ways that matter to them and to critically reflect on our explorations. In the projects, I study how listening can become embodied and relational acts that evoke curious conversational dialogues between us. Such dialogues are not about directing or crafting convincing arguments but are invitations to listen with the costume with our bodies, to share our embodied experiences, to co-create and elaborate on each other’s creative perspective. During the artistic projects, I act as more-than an observing designer/researcher. I am the crafter (of the costumes) and the host who partake alongside fellow artists and the goal is to explore how my hosting orientation(s) affect or go together with being an active participant.

With this research I suggest that it is critical that we in co-creative situations cultivate our listening abilities towards human and more-than human others and I argue that costume is a medium that enable us to do so.With the research, my ambition is to formulate ideas on co-creative strategies that values material-discursive listening and where the hosting attitude is orientated towards communal doings. The aim is that that listenings and communal hostings become tools for designers to gain a deeper understanding of how costume affects performers, and the boarder scope is that the research contributes to discussions on how teams can collaborate in more generous and inclusive manners. For example, to acknowledging that our different (discipliner) creative perspectives and expectations are something that we can offer to the common doing and that we at the same time must recognize that how we share and exchange of our differences has an impact on how we can flourish co-creatively.

Read more about Charlotte Østergaard's research here