I am Cathy Turner, a researcher and walking artist.
I am an Associate Professor in Drama at the University of Exeter, and one of four artist-researchers in Wrights & Sites, an artists’ organization based in South West England.
My most recent research led to my recent book, Dramaturgy and Architecture: Theatre, Utopia and the Built Environment, Palgrave, 2015.
My current interests are in Indian performance art in public space* and gardens for/as/in performance. These represent two projects, largely separate, both of which I am just beginning.
I’m also pro-EU, pro-Corbyn (or at least the policies he stands for), and against the privatisation of public space. These things exercising me greatly right now.
Previous research has included a collaboration with Synne Behrndt in researching contemporary dramaturgy as profession and concept, with a focus on the UK. Our book, Dramaturgy and Performance, will be out in a revised edition with Palgrave in 2016.
Wrights & Sites’ work includes a series of ‘Mis-Guides’, which propose ways of walking** that make places strange to us. Our book for the ‘architect-walker’ is due out in 2016.
*We can argue about whether there is such a thing, of course.
**’Walking’ is here understood to include other ways of getting about, including wheelchairs, pushchairs, crawling, or whatever is accessible.