Testimony in Practice: Working with Stories of the Self and Others

实践中的证词发展和扩大了AHRC网络“文化及其作为证词的用途”的文化和社会影响活动(2016-18年)。该网络将在各种国际和学科背景下工作的研究人员和从业人员聚集在一起，探讨以不同文化形式和通过不同文化形式调解的证词是否以及如何能够促进冲突后社会的和解和象征性正义。该网络的调查结果包括这样一个原则，即所有的证词都是通过文化产生的，这一原则被广泛理解为包括人工制品(例如电影、文学)和机构(例如教育、法律)。该网络还强调有必要集中注意不同形式的调解对证词制作和接受的影响。该网络产生影响的一个意外途径是，该网络的三名成员，加泰罗尼亚剧团La Conquesta del Pol Sud的Eugenio Szwarercer和Carles Fernandez Giua以及罗马尼亚和德国小说家Carmen-Francesca Banciu决定制作一部合作的纪录片剧场演出。这部剧是根据班丘在共产主义罗马尼亚作为持不同政见者作家的生活改编的，名为*布加勒斯特。这部创新的作品将逐字和呈现自我的文学形式结合在一起，突出了真实性、声音和权力的问题。实践中的证词将布加勒斯特带到了伯明翰，并确保这种合作的潜在影响得到充分实现。它通过一系列研讨会、证词运动和中介展览吸引新的社区和观众来实现这一点。它将在四个领域产生影响：文化生产、社会福祉、公众理解和经济影响。该项目回应了两个不同的非学术社区表达的需求：-需要更多地分享在艺术生产中使用证词的伦理和方法的研究和实践--需要增加公众对生活在英国的中东欧人(CAES)的生活故事的理解和认可。该项目分为两个相互关联的部分，以满足这些不同的需求：创意和社会1。Creative Strand利用在*布加勒斯特使用的创新方法和合作方法吸引文化从业者。它通过在伯明翰欧洲艺术节上演出该剧(来自欧洲各地的戏剧从业者参加)、一个从业者讲习班、一个开放式的“制作”电影和指南、两个关于“写作自我”的创造性写作讲习班和一篇反思期刊文章2来做到这一点。The Social Strand的灵感来自La Conquesta和Banciu的生活故事方法，让外籍社区、学校和当地公众参与到该剧的主题中：共产主义历史、1989年革命和中东欧移民的经历。在我们的合作伙伴波兰侨民协会、中东欧艺术空间、Centrala和罗马尼亚文化研究所的合作下，我们发起了一项在线活动，收集居住在英国的Cee的生活故事。这些证词构成了在伯明翰和伦敦展出的互动和中介展览的基础，以及两个学校研讨会的基础，在这些研讨会上，学生们对材料创造出自己的艺术反应。2019年启动该项目尤其及时，因为欧洲人正在纪念分裂的结束和自由民主战胜共产主义的胜利。然而，这些周年纪念日正值非洲大陆陷入巨大动荡之际，欧洲大陆似乎越来越分裂。实践中的证词产生于这一背景下，并直接涉及到这一问题。它提出了这样一种可能性，即文化可以为被边缘化的群体提供机会来表达他们的生活经历，并让这些经历被不同的受众认可和听到，从而培养更多的社会认同感和社区凝聚力。

Testimony in Practice develops and extends the cultural and social impact activities of the AHRC network "Culture and its Uses as Testimony" (2016-18). This network brought together researchers and practitioners working in a range of international and disciplinary contexts to explore if and how testimony mediated in and through different cultural forms might foster reconciliation and a sense of symbolic justice in post-conflict societies. The network's findings include the principle that all testimony is produced through culture, broadly understood to include artefacts (e.g., film, literature) and institutions (e.g., education, the law). The network further highlighted the necessity of focussing on the impact of different kinds of mediation on the production and reception of testimony.An unforeseen pathway to impact resulting from that network was the decision by three network members, Eugenio Szwarcer and Carles Fernandez Giua of the Catalan theatre company La Conquesta del Pol Sud, and the Romanian and German novelist Carmen-Francesca Banciu to produce a collaborative documentary theatre performance. The play is based on Banciu's life as a dissident author in communist Romania and titled *Bucharest*. This innovative production combines verbatim and literary forms of presenting the self to highlight issues of authenticity, voice and power. Testimony in Practice brings *Bucharest* to Birmingham and ensures that the potential impact of this collaboration is fully realised. It does this by engaging new communities and audiences through a series of workshops, a testimonies campaign, and an intermedial exhibition. It will have impact in four areas: cultural production, social well-being, public understanding and economic impact.The project responds to needs expressed by two different non-academic communities: - a need for greater sharing of research and practice in the ethics and methods of using testimony in artistic production - a need for increased public understanding and recognition of the life stories of Central and Eastern Europeans (CEEs) living in the UK It is divided into two interlinked strands which address these different needs: Creative and Social.1. The Creative strand engages cultural practitioners with the innovative approach and collaborative method used in *Bucharest*. It does this through the performance of the play at the Birmingham European Festival (attended by theatre practitioners from across Europe), a practitioners workshop, an open-access "Making Of" film and guide, two creative writing workshops on "Writing the self", and a reflective journal article.2. The Social strand is inspired by the life-story approach of La Conquesta and Banciu and engages expatriate communities, schools and the local public with the subject of the play: the history of communism, the revolutions of 1989 and the experiences of Central and Eastern European migrants. In co-operation with our partners, the Polish Expats Association, the Central and Eastern European Arts Space, Centrala, and the Romanian Cultural Institute, we launch an online campaign to gather the life stories of CEEs living in the UK. The testimonies form the basis of an interactive and intermedial exhibition displayed in Birmingham and London and two schools workshops, in which pupils create their own artistic responses to the material. The launch of the project in 2019 is particularly timely as Europeans commemorate the end of division and the triumph of liberal democracy over communism. And yet these anniversaries come at a time of great turbulence for a continent that seems ever more divided. Testimony in Practice emerges from this context and directly addresses it. It stages the possibility that culture can provide opportunities for marginalised groups to voice their life experiences and to have these recognised and heard by diverse audiences, thereby fostering a greater sense of social recognition and community cohesion.