4 international experts of recognized prestige in the field of audiences and spectators of the performing arts will offer conferences and professional workshops during the II Congress:
- Flavio Desgranges (Brazil). Theater director, playwright and psychoanalyst. Professor in the Department of Performing Arts at the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC) since 2015 and previously full professor at the University of São Paulo (USP) between 2000 and 2015. Coordinator of iNerTE – Unstable Center for Studies Theater host and editor of the “Teatro” and “Pedagogy del Teatre” collections by Editora Hucitec. Author of several books on theater and spectator pedagogy, including the most recent: Decirse público. Entre la mediación teatral y el efecto estético. Participant in numerous international theater events and member of the AINCRIT Steering Committee (2021-2025).
- keynote: “Calling yourself public: between theatrical mediation and the aesthetic effect“.
- workshop: “The inversion of the gaze: the performative debates proposed to the theater audience”.
- Caroline Heim (Australia). World authority on theater audiences and the psychology of theater relationships. Author of the books Audience as Performer (2016), considered a reference work on the history of theater audiences, and Actors and Audiences (2020), which received an honorable mention in the Rob Jordan Award. He has published numerous articles on spectators and student mental health, and has interviewed over 200 actors and spectators internationally. He recently co-wrote Building Resilient Relationships (2023) about long-term relationships. She previously worked as an actress in the US and as a theater critic for The Australian.
- keynote: “Spectator-character relationship: the elements of psychological conversations in the theatre”.
- worksjop: “Embodying spectator-character relationship to enhance spectator well-being“, together with psychiatrist Christian Heim.
- Christian Fernández-Mirón (Spain). It develops projects that combine art, education, sound and social aspects. He is interested in exploring, leading and being led, sharing learning and questioning conventional forms of learning. He has worked in independent and institutional areas in Spain, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and the United Kingdom. He currently develops projects for cultural centers, museums and theaters, focusing especially on community mediation. He has been a mediator in several spaces and has led the Mediation project at the Center for Contemporary Culture Condeduque.
- Raquel André (Portugal). Collector, performer, researcher and artist. She is currently a doctoral student in Theater Studies at the University of Lisbon and obtained a master’s degree in Collecting in Performing Arts in Rio de Janeiro. His “Coleção de Pessoas” project includes four multidisciplinary collections: Lovers, Collectors, Artists and Spectators. She has worked as a director and curator in Brazil, and her work has been presented in Europe, North America and South America. In 2024 he will release “Belonging”, continuing his artistic practice based on personal encounters.
- keynote: “The international experience of Collection of People“.
- workshop: “Performance as action – Action as performance”.
- she will also lead a workshop with a local audience, the result of which will be the closing activity of the Congress; in parallel, it will bring the exhibition “Collection of Spectators” which can be visited during the II Congress in the lobby of the Romea Theatre.