International Forum on Artistic Research
17th Conference of the Society for Artistic Research (SAR)
Submission Number: 70
Submission ID: 109
Submission UUID: d97edddf-a54d-4b21-8176-27aba493e1af

Created: Fri, 13 Feb 2026 - 13:31
Completed: Fri, 13 Feb 2026 - 14:22
Changed: Wed, 13 May 2026 - 08:12

Remote IP address: 194.81.172.18
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Current page: webform_confirmation
Given name Aaron
Surname Goddard
Email 2551850@dundee.ac.uk
I understand that by submitting this form, I consent to the use of my data for the purposes of the 2026 Forum on Artistic Research'. Yes
I agree to the terms of service. Yes
Title Situating labour: theatrical off-sites
Format Performance
Main language English
Abstract My practice-led PhD research combines theories of Worlding and Unworlding with my own lived experiences of working as a backstage labourer to develop new practice-led research which critically engages with the invisible labour embedded in the production of large scale theatrical worlds. This involves situating writing, filmmaking and performance practices within the liminal areas of production to question the politics of what is occluded from view. These questions form the basis of interrelated site-specific embodied practices which seek to problematise and re-map thresholds between the construction and deconstruction of dominant fictions, past and present.

In response to the provocation of 'Making seeable and sayable: artistic research in the interplay of power and language'. I propose to share elements of this ongoing research as a performance/lecture, combining readings from my experimental written field-notes with film extracts. Together, these materials approach the complications of representation through the proximal lens of backstage and working-class labour. I explore the body and voice as generative tools capable of developing haptic, perceptual and situated writing as practice which seeks to queer and destablise accepted hierarchies of knowledge production and the favourability of normative imaginaries. (My proposed presentation would be 20 minutes in duration).

Two key pieces of theory which ground my methodological approach are Kathleen Stewart's notion of Worlding and Jack Halberstam's notion of Unworlding. "Worldings are not globe-like containers but radically-situated modes of response to a present sensed out in bodies, affects, aesthetics and politics". Whilst Halberstam's notion of Unworlding asks how concepts such as the human, subject, object or animal might be tipped out of their hierarchical formations to explore the unmaking of worlds. Building from these ideas, my research asks how attunements to the usually unseen and unheard can be
Image The Wings, 2025, Aaron Goddard (Film Still).JPG
Short biographies of the presenter(s)
  • I am a PhD researcher and artist born in Romford, Essex and based in Glasgow, Scotland. My practice-led PhD research is supervised by Professor Maria Fusco at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (University of Dundee) and Aurelien Froment at Edinburgh College of Art (University of Edinburgh) developed in partnership with Scottish Opera, Glasgow. Ongoing contextual research to support the development of this project has included carrying out fieldwork in Glasgow, London, New York and Berlin. Including archival research at The New York Filmmakers Co-op, MoMA Media and Performance Archive, New York and The Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Previous presentations or iterations of the research Full Research Paper Presentations: WCBAN and QBAN (Working Class British Art Network and Queer British Art Network) Conference at Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester 6th September 2024.
On Subversion SGSAH 2025 Annual Symposium, University of Glasgow, UK. 2025.
Expanding Cinema: Practice-Led Research, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh University, UK. November 2025.
IAWIS International Association For Word and Image Studies, 11th Annual Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands. (2026 Forthcoming).
Additional information Examples of recent published field-notes can be accessed via this link:
https://landing.vda.lt/journal/article/view/37

Examples of film practice can be viewed via this link:
https://vimeo.com/1087446812?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
Password: C2025

Research Profile:
https://www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/research/students/goddard
Spatial and technical requirements My proposed contribution would be best suited to a screening room or lecture theatre space with basic AV requirements such as:
- A viewable screen, connectable to laptop (projected or monitor)
- Audio Speakers
- Microphone
Potential risks or ethical concerns I foresee no potential risks or ethical concerns at this stage.
Create a user account for SAR 2026 Yes
Create new user Aaron Goddard