Situating working processes and settings of presentation: Theatre Festivals and Residencies in Production Networks

The paper examines the phenomenon of artistic residencies in the field of performative arts, their connection to theatre festivals and position in production networks. The central argument states that contemporary theatre festivals as well as residencies for performing arts manifest increasing interest towards working modes of artists and companies. The shift from presentation as the absolute focal point in performing arts lays out different strategies to enhance the visibility of and reflection on production processes.
The main subject of the analysis is the Swiss festival far – fabrique/ festival des arts vivants in Nyon (*1984) and its residency program Les Marchandises, launched in 2018. As such a compound, far/les Marchandises exemplary illustrates transformational tensions in institutional settings for artistic research, production, and presentation. The geographical location of far/Les Marchandises in-between urban and rural results in a prominent position of the festival and its residence within the (trans)national production networks. A case study from the festival program – "La Vitesse de la lumière" by Marco Canale (2021) – will be closely discussed as a work initiated by far and entangling global and local actants. The methodological design, based on the principle of working with concepts (M. Bal 2002), focuses on "situation" (C. Doherty 2004/2009). Production processes and networks are two further conceptual lenses and umbrella terms for the proposed paper, to be approached by tracing and visualization of production networks.