Who's who

Centre for Arts, Communities and the Environment

Keywords: site-specific performance, contemporary performance art, live arts practices, body art, durational performance, the domestic in performance

Research interests

Bob's current research interests focus on research methodologies in practice-as-research, the processes and relational practices of collaborative performance and devised theatre making, alongside her research partner, Lee Miller (University of Plymouth). Current practice-as-research writing is informed by witnessing durational performance art/live art/body art practices, and the exploration of a radical domesticity. 

Recent outputs

Research methodology

‘Partly Cloudy, Chance of Rain: A Case Study' (2010) in Blood, Sweat and Theory: Research through Practice in Performance, edited by John Freeman, case study co-authored with Lee Miller, London: Middlesex University Press.

(Re)Commit To Memory: In Which Bob and Lee Spend 12 Hours At A Loss (2009) catalogue entry co-authored with Lee Miller, in Practice-as-Research: In Performance and Screen, edited by Ludivine Fuschini, Simon Jones, Baz Kershaw and Angela Piccini, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Witnessing Performance

‘Disorderly Looking' (2010) Catalogue essay co-authored with Lee Miller for Marina Abramović, Ivan Civic, Amanda Coogan, Nico Vascellari, Marie Cool and Fabio Balducci, Nikhil Chopra, Yingmei Duan, Eunhye Hwang, Alistair McLennan, Kira O'Reilly, Melati Suryodarmo, Jamie Isenstien, Fedor Pavlov-Andreevich, and Terence Koh in Marina Abramović and the Future of Performance Art, ed. Paula Orrell, London: Prestel.

‘Transcendence & The Everyday' (2010) Catalogue essay co-authored with Lee Miller for solo exhibition by performance artist Eunhye Hwang, Reutlingen, Germany.

The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow (2010) documentation of symposium, performances and exhibition in conjunction with Marina Abramović, organisation and participation, Royal William Yard, Plymouth, 21 - 24 January.

‘From the First to the Last: Pedagogic strategies for the development of durational site-based performance practice' (2010) Calculating Risk: assessment, ethics and risk assessment in durational and site-based performance work with/by students, PALATINE symposium, keynote paper, University of Plymouth, 21 January.

The Radical Domestic

‘Dissent and Domesticity' (2009) artist's talk, The Choreodrome Lecture Series, The Place, London, co-authored and presented with Lee Miller, 13 August.

Selected earlier outputs

‘How do you hide a city? A performed paper, one that might, quite possibly, involve workshop elements as we all try to find the best way*' * The best way to hide a city, that is (2008) The Hidden City Symposium: Mythogeography, Writing, & Site Specific Performance, University of Plymouth, co-authored and presented keynote paper with Lee Miller, 4 October.

‘Away From Home: The Curious Domain of Passage' (2007) co-authored article with Lee Miller in Performance Research 12.2 ‘On The Road'.

‘Performance Anxiety: or how I stopped worrying and learnt to love site-specific performance installation' (2007) co-authored article with Lee Miller in Research in Drama Education, special edition ‘On Site and Place': 104-107.

‘A Dwelling in the Screen: At least for a little while' (2006) co-authored article with Lee Miller in Performance Research 10.4 ‘On Techne': 138-147.

Current research / forthcoming outputs

‘Performance as Research' (2010) in Research Methods in Theatre Studies, edited by Baz Kershaw and Helen Nicholson, case study co-authored with Lee Miller, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming.

‘From Structuralism to Poststructuralism' (2010) in Research Methods in the Social Sciences, edited by Bridget Somekh and Cathy Lewin, chapter co-authored with Ian Stronach and Lee Miller, London: Sage Publications, forthcoming second edition.

Membership of learned societies, subject associations etc

International Federation for Theatre Research (Practice as Research in Performance working group)

NewWork Network

PARIP (Practice as Research in Performance).

Editorial Boards

Editorial advisory board for Choreographic Practices, Intellect

Peer-review board for Theatre, Dance & Performance Training (TDPT), Routledge.

Supervision of research degrees

I am currently supervising Dani Abulhawa, Performative Explorations of Gendered Play in Public, Urban Space at University of Plymouth; and have examined 2 PhD candidates.

I am particularly interested in supervising research in the following areas: practice-as-research in devised theatre, performance art, live art, durational performance, collaborative performance and site-specific performance.