Performing Science Award

Daniel Ladnar's presentation “Would Joseph Beuys Have Used PowerPoint?”

Daniel Ladnar, PhD student in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University, has won the prestigious Performing Science - Giessen Award for Scholarly Presentation and Lecture Performance 2011. This honours innovative forms of knowledge presentation in any academic discipline.

The jury (which included leading scholars from biology, literature, cultural theory and dance) awarded first prize to Daniel for his lecture performance, “Would Joseph Beuys Have Used PowerPoint?”. Daniel, who is researching the role of the lecture performance in contemporary performance practice and theory under the supervision of Dr Heike Roms and Professor Adrian Kear and supported by a doctoral scholarship from Aberystwyth University, received prize money of €5,000.

 “The Performing Science Award highlights that knowledge does not exist independently of the forms in which it is communicated”, commented Daniel. “This aspect is also very important to my doctoral research, and I was honoured and delighted for my work to be recognised in this way.”

From over 50 applications received from all over Europe and the USA, a shortlist of ten was selected, which represented research in fields as diverse as medicine, chemistry, physics, engineering, theatre, visual arts and performance. The shortlisted lectures were presented at a public event at Giessen University.

Daniel Ladnar is a performance maker and researcher based in Aberystwyth. He is the co-founder of Random People, a platform for collaborative projects in the field of performance. Random People has realised and presented work mostly in the UK, Germany and Austria. Daniel Ladnar studied Theatre, Film and Media Studies, Art History and German in Frankfurt am Main and has also completed an MA in Photography at Swansea Metropolitan University. He is currently a PhD student at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University, where he is researching the role of the lecture performance in contemporary performance practice and theory.

The prize was awarded for the second time (following its launch in 2007) by the Center for Media and Interactivity of the Justus Liebig University, Giessen (Germany) with support from the Robert Bosch Foundation.

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