LIVENESS SYMPOSIUM II

NEUROLIVE celebrated and concluded its 5-year interdisciplinary investigation of liveness with a 3-day symposium that took place at Siobhan Davies Studios from 2-4 June 2025.

‘What are you working on?!
Have you found anything yet?!
What have we done?!’
– Seke Chimutengwende and Steph McMann, words spoken in NEUROLIVE Performance 1: Detective Work

Using these questions that were spoken in Performance 1 to playfully frame the different sessions, the symposium brought together contributors from a range of fields for a programme of discussions and presentations, all reflecting on the themes and methods of the NEUROLIVE project.

The team of scientists and artists who have been part of NEUROLIVE shared findings and reflections on the research, alongside invited guests from the fields of cognitive neuroscience, theatre and performance studies, dance studies and artistic practice who hosted discussions focusing on different aspects of the project. We were delighted to be joined by guests including Maaike Bleeker, Efrosini Protopapa, Beatriz Calvo Merino, Scott Delahunta, Annie Pui Ling Lok, Kat Bridge and Siobhan Davies.

The symposium formed part of the series of closing public events of the NEUROLIVE project, which also comprised a 5-day series of artistic research workshops, and a lecture performance.

Download Full Symposium Schedule

Visit the booking page on the Siobhan Davies Studios website.


MONDAY 2 JUNE 2025

Have you found anything yet?
Performance 1/ Detective Work
<insert Monday morning part one video>


Performance 4/ Readings of what was never written with with Jamie Forth, Guido Orgs, Robin Ren, Matthias Sperling



What have we done?

Revisiting debates on conceptualising liveness - Facilitated by Maaike Bleeker

What are you working on?

<insert video>

Addressing challenges of disseminating interdisciplinary outputs - Facilitated by Efrosini Protopapa



Film documentation: Ana de Matos
Audio technician: Francesco Angelini

TUESDAY 3 JUNE 2025
Conceptualising Liveness with Evelyn Wan


Conceptualising Liveness with Matthew Reason


Conceptualising Liveness with Anna Pakes, Guido Orgs & Matthias Sperling