Marie-Andree Robitaille makes her doctoral thesis public with the circus performance Multiverse

On 29 April, 2024, Marie-Andree Robitaille´s documented doctoral artistic research project, Circus as Practices of Hope, will be made public.

For the occasion, Marie-Andree Robitaille will perform the circus piece Multiverse, and the project's written thesis and digital exposition will be launched in the public sphere! The event is open to the public free of charge, but reservations are necessary.

Approximate schedule
13:15–13:30 Audience gathering in foyer outside studio 16
13:30–14:30 Performance Multiverse
14:30–15:00 Pause and interaction with material
15:00–16:00 Official launch of the documented artistic research project and mingle.

– I am honored to have been a doctoral candidate in performative and media-based practices in choreography at Stockholm University of the Arts. Through my research project, I have explored and articulated circus specificities and relevance within today’s planetary context. I’m thrilled to be sharing the final results of my research. It has been a very rich process. I learned a lot and look forward to furthering my work as an artist-researcher and activating my new knowledge through my work as a pedagogue and in conversations with my peers, says Marie-Andrée Robitaille.

Marie-Andrée Robitaille has carried out research work as a Phd student at Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH), where she has investigated circus modes of composition and performance through a posthuman lens and neo-materialist approaches. The research culminates in a series of multiple iterations of the piece Multiverse presented notably at the centenary celebration of the Bauhaus movement Festival Total Stage in Dessau Bauhaus School, Germany in 2019, Gävle Konstcentrum in Sweden 2020, International Symposium for Artistic Research in Film and Philosophy Intra-Activity: The posthuman fabulation and Matter at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF Germany in 2021, the Conferences Alliances and Commonalities at Stockholm University of the Arts, Sweden in 2020-2022, Festival CirkusMania, Sweden in 2023, Dynamo Contemporary Circus Festival, Danemark 2023, at the launch of the Southern Sweden Circus Festival in 2023, and at the International Encounter of Circus Wisdom – Achura Karpa, the International Conference Circus and its Others IV Circus, Solidarity, Difference, and Mobility, Colombia Bogotá, April 2024.

The completed doctoral thesis consists of the live performance Multiverse, a digital spherical exhibition, a written exegesis, and a chapter in the book Posthumanism in Practice published at Bloomsbury Academic.

Making public and Public defence
The documented artistic research will be made public on 29 April at 13:30–16:30 in studio16 at Stockholm University of the Arts, Brinellvägen 58, 114 20 Stockholm, Sweden. For booking: Making public

The Public defence will be held on 27 May, 2024, starting at 13:30 at Stockholm University of the Arts, Brinellvägen 58, 114 20 Stockholm, Sweden.

Bio

Marie-Andrée Robitaille is a multidisciplinary circus artist, pedagogue and researcher. She studied in human sciences while training as a dancer at École de Danse de Québec and as a circus artist at the National Circus School in Montréal, Canada. Since 1998, Marie-Andrée has worked as a performer, choreographer, director, and producer on various international projects. Between 2007-2009, she was a talent scout at Cirque du Soleil casting team. From 2009 to 2018, she was an assistant professor of circus and the artistic leader and head of the bachelor’s degree Programme in Circus at Stockholm University of the Arts SKH in Sweden (formerly DOCH). At SKH, she conducted a series of artistic research: Gynoïdes Project, on the representation and agency of women in circus; Sound of Circus, on modes of sonic interaction; Hidden Circus, on sensing practices. Her research interests encompass circus epistemic potential, choreography, composition, performative and kinetic new materialisms, posthuman ethics, embodiment, and transdisciplinarity. In her doctoral project, Circus as Practices of Hope, she articulates circus specificities and their relevance for navigating and steering the current planetary paradigm shift.