Taiwo Afolabi is a new faculty member in the Theatre Department at the University. On his website, he describes his interests as including:

Taiwo’s research interests include Performance and Pedagogy; Socially-Engaged Arts; Applied Theatre; Devised Theatre; Creative Practice; Intercultural Communication; Ethics; African Theatre; Community-Based Practice, Participation, Decolonization; Film Studies, Art Management; and Cultural Entrepreneurship. Within these research areas, he has co-edited 1 volume (Lexington, forthcoming), and published over 7 book chapters and more than 15 refereed articles in journals such as Research in Drama Education, Applied Theatre Research,  African Performance Review etc.

Taiwo Afolabi – Research Interests

Ken Wilson gave me Taiwo’s name when we met, and I was grateful that he was able to make the time to meet with me on October 22nd. He’s very new to Regina, having just moved here with his wife and toddler.

The following are my notes from our meeting.

My question for Taiwo: What do you see as art’s role in contributing to social change? Should art try to teach people something or should it not?

It’s not “art for art’s sake” or “didactic art”; for Taiwo, it’s somewhere in between.

The art should challenge. It should leave room for both teaching/learning and aesthetics.

It’s a viable tool to create dialogue.

Look up “humanitarian performance” – using theatre to do something / intervention-based

Taiwo sees “participation” as a noun, not a verb: it’s being used by developed countries as a development discourse (to do something) in developing countries.

People have the capacity to engage – it’s an ability – a noun

Look up Linda Smith.

Defining participatory art is problematic because people have different ideas/definitions.

This is the beauty of it — it stretches the boundaries

The definition depends on WHO is defining it.

A key characteristic is leaving a space for others / a non-hierarchical space where people share the power

Artists can create techniques to do this, such as “breaking the fourth wall” (in theatre) or “immersion theatre”

Look up “Cardboard theatre” in the UK — used a technique to get people in

My question for Taiwo: What do I want people to get out of these engagements?

The point is for people to leave the room with a question in their head or with an idea or a conversation.

Always ask: what is the artist’s intention?

About incorporating First Nations’ culture… it’s not enough to incorporate it; one has to know it to make that incorporation meaningful. It’s about internalizing it. We should learn it to know it. Have a personal monologue with the knowledge.

My question for Taiwo: How to get attention if I’m just reading something out loud? How to get participation?

Taiwo: do something at the same time that gets people’s attention. He gave the example of having a table set up outside (downtown) where I could occasionally pretend to water an invisible plant. People would stop and stare and perhaps engage.

Idea: “Found Poems” – get several poems and select lines or words from them. Make a “found poem” that I and/or others can recite.

Look up Wangari Maathai, and African climate activist.

If I go with the Nicolle Flats reading out loud idea, make it a mini-documentary.

Taiwo would consider orchestrating a social engagement event with me.