JULIEANNA PRESTON

Preston, Julieanna. Being Under Symphony [performance and keynote], Interior Design Educator’s Council Annual Conference, Charlotte, NC, USA, 7 March 2019.

INTRODUCTION

On the occasion of this event, we will likely enter the room, acquire a seat and, with dutiful respect, obey the furniture and the ingrained habits of conference keynote lectures as we turn our attention to the fanfare of screens, amplified speech, lighting, a lectern and a speaking body at the front of the room. The drama of Being Under Symphony redirects expectations from learning about an interior as if it were a collection of merely functional materials and systems to being with an interior as a mutual assemblage of thriving energetic forces. Such a critical shift in perspective and experience registers my commitment to practice the tenets of new materialism in a direct, immersive, embodied manner with respect to everyday materials and objects including interior surfaces. As such, this performative lecture attends to the venue’s ceiling in an effort to demonstrate its vitality and to point to the merits of practicing in the spirit of under.

The score from this performance work is currently under development as a performance writing journal article.