Mary Oliver

Reader in Performance

Office Times

Monday – 2.00pm – 5.00pm

Tuesday  – 2.00pm – 5.00pm

Wednesday – 9.30am – 12.30am

Biography

I am Reader in Performance and Director of the Performance Research Centre. My primary area of research focuses on the interstices between live performance and the screen. I have written, produced and performed in over thirty original performance works and since the late 1990’s my practice as research has contributed new knowledge to discussions on Liveness, Presence and Interactivity. I have extensive experience of devising new post-graduate curricula, PGR supervision, of programme leadership and external moderation.

I am on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Performing Arts and Digital Media, Intellect Publishing and Performing Magic, University of Huddersfield Press.

My ongoing research is focussed on touch: acts of empathy and kindness in HTI.  I lead the international research project The As Yet Impossible, which is exploring the impact of performance led devising processes in collaborative research. As part of this project I organise the As Yet Impossible Lecture Series which brings future thinkers to Media City UK. To date this has included Dr. Ali Hosaini, Mike Joroff, MIT, Tim May, Social Theorist, Professor Kevin Warwick pioneering cyberneticist, the Screen Lab Project, neuroscientist Daniel Glaser and artists Gibson and Martelli.  I am currently co-editing a special edition of the IJPADM with Dr. Eirini Nedelkopoulou on Hybridities, the intersections between performing arts and science.

Teaching

Site-Specific Performance

Multimedia Performance

Creative Technology

Performance and New Media Interfaces

Currently supervising 5 PhD Students

Tutor on the MA Doc Course

Research Interests

Digital Performance, Multimedia Performance, Theatre and Screen History.

Qualifications and Memberships

TaPRA (Theatre and Performance Research Association)

Publications

Publications

Oliver, M (2012) , ‘Me-but-not-me: Teaching the digital double’, International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 8: 2, (pp. 185–200).

Oliver, M, (2009) ‘From the Liminal to the Visceral’, Blue Pages, Vol 3 09, Society of British Designers.

Oliver, M, (2009) ‘Never Work with animals, children and digital characters’, Telling Stories: Countering Narrative in Art, Theory and Film, Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009 (pp.75-81).

Oliver, M, (2008) ‘The emancipating possibilities of performing with cartoons’. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, Volume 4.1 (pp. 59-67).

Oliver, M, (2008) Article on current research, Puppet Notebook, Winter 2008, Issue 10, British Unima. Society

Oliver, M, ‘Talk to me!’ (2010) Consciousness Reframed 11, Making Reality Really Real Eds Ascott, R, Gangvuk, E, Jahrmann, M , TEKS Publishing , Trondheim, Norway (pp. 148-150).

Most Recent Practice as Research Outputs:

April – June 2011

Push, Interactive Motion Triggered Video Installation. At Play 3, Bracknell Art Gallery, Southill Park,

Berkshire.

Sep 2010

Please Take My Hand and Talk to Me, one-to-one performance using bio-sign sensor Media City Summit, Salford Innovation Centre.

June - July 2010

Offit, Installation and Performance Events at the Lowry Hotel and HubM3, Artists Residency in collaboration with Artist Lois Klassen, Vancouver.

June 2010

Nana’s New Pet, Interactive Digital Performance, Lowry Theatre.

Sep – Oct 2009

Babble, Bracknell Gallery, Southill Park, produced as part of Rules and Regulations International Live Arts Residency. ACE Funded.