Interspecies Performance

by Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca

Interspecies Performance brings together artists and scholars from across the disciplines to interrogate the rich terrain of contemporary interspecies performance practice – specifically in relation to nonhuman animals. The book foregrounds an intersectional and ethically oriented approach that centres care, empathy and collaboration, and considers the deep entanglement of contemporary oppressions. Fahim Amir · Kat Austen · Silvia Battista · Christopher Braddock · Emily Burdfield-Steel · Ruth K. Burke · Lucy Cash · Soojin Chang · Laura Cooper · Leonie Cornips · Criptonite · Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca · Dolphin Dance Project · Shannon Epplett · Every house has a door · Fevered Sleep · Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp · Abhay Ghiara · Alexis Pauline Gumbs · Maximilian Haas · Michaela Harrison · G. C. Heemskerk · Tessel Janse · Mark Jeffery · Essi Kausalainen · Raja’a Khalid · Tuija Kokkonen · Eva Meijer · Performances for Pets · Amanda Piña · Juan José Luis Katira Ramirez · Filipa Ramos · Undine Sellbach · Agat Sharma · Hermione Spriggs · Jessica Ullrich · Elly S. Vadseth · Louis van den Hengel · Julia van der Putten · David Weber-Krebs ‘More than a book, this is a dynamic field of catalysing encounters through which the very idea of performance is extended, expanded, reshaped and reinvigorated. When species meet with such creativity, care and curiosity, they vastly increase the potential of performance to envision and to engender futures of multi-species thriving. These astonishing collaborations and theorizations establish a vibrant interspecies praxis at the cutting edge of contemporary performance.’ Una Chaudhuri Contents What if species is a performance? Alexis Pauline Gumbs An Introduction to Interspecies Performance Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca and Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp OTHER PERFORMING BEYOND THE HUMAN Moths Must Be Moaning Agat Sharma with Emily Burdfield-Steel and Julia van der Putten Sheep Pig Goat Fevered Sleep Performing Knowledge as Interspecies Sheep Pig Goat and the ethics of attention Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca Performances for Pets Performances for Pets (Alex Bailey and Krõõt Juurak) Performances for Pets and Art for Animal Audiences Jessica Ullrich Afterthoughts on Balthazar (2011–17) Maximilian Haas and David Weber-Krebs The Interspecies Collective G.C. Heemskerk and Eva Meijer BODIES OF PERFORMING OCEANIC SOLIDARITIES Bodies of Reflection Alexis Pauline Gumbs Interspecies A gelatinous correspondence Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp and Elly S. Vadseth Whale Whispering Michaela Harrison Dolphin Dance Project Benjamin Harley and Chisa Hidaka OTHER COMMUNING BEYOND THE HUMAN Entangled Whakaaro and dialogue in the artwork of Shannon Te Ao Christopher Braddock Conversation in the Shape of a Cowlick and Other Tongues Lucy Cash, Leonie Cornips, Mark Jeffery and Louis van den Hengel Octopus Letters Criptonite Concert of A-lure Laura Cooper and Hermione Spriggs EXPLORING OTHER REALMS Introspective The theologies of darkness of an intangible firefly Silvia Battista A Hummingbird Butterfly Brought Me Messages from My Learning from Amerindian ritual practices through artistic research Amanda Piña with Fahim Amir, Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca and Juan José Luis Katira Ramirez ‘Why Should Our Bodies End With Our Skin?’: Intergenerational longings, dislocations and waiting in BXBY Undine Sellbach with Soojin Chang The Rite for Future Beetles Kat Austen CULTURAL ANIMALS Piles of The performance of sovereignty through reindeer culling in the subpolar North Tessel Janse That Space Before Feelings Creep In Raja’a Khalid and Filipa Ramos Elephant Every house has a door Domestic Rewilding and Interspecies Labour Ruth K. Burke and Shannon Epplett Epilogue Non-Human Following birds here at the borderlands Tuija Kokkonen (translated by Hanna Westerlund) Notes on Contributors Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca is Lector and Head of DAS Graduate School at the Academy of Theatre and Dance, Amsterdam University of the Arts. Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp is a creative producer and researcher in the field of contemporary art and performance.

352 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2025