Public intimacies: my audiences with Adrienne

The paper will explore the possibilities for performance when anonymous public is re-constituted as intimate confidante. It will draw on the recent work of Adrian Howells over the last 2-3 years: for example, his 2007 piece, 'An Audience with Adrienne: her summertime special.'

The conference will investigate the power of performance to intervene in, reshape, and reinvigorate the public sphere at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Papers and presentations at the conference will explore the relationship between performance, “official” public culture, and the production of “counter-publics”. Discussion will reflect the vibrant history of urban intervention and “public spacing” movements in which artists and activists have worked together to change the shape of our shared local and civic spaces.

• Organisation