Performing Landscapes: Mountains

For thousands of years mountains have been intrinsically connected to modes of artistic and aesthetic performance. From ancient Greek transformation rituals in Arcadia, through designated ceremonies in the Himalayas, to sacrificial rites in the Andes, the topography, visual impact and remoteness of mountains have encouraged complex performance-based behaviours to develop. Since the first documented reflection of Petrarch in 1336 (1898: 307-20), mountain climbers have translated their experiences into prose and poetry, seeking meaning in the surrounding topography and within themselves. This mountain 'prehistory' (Frison-Rouche and Jouty 1996: 17) was superseded by a flourishing of mountain activity and its accompanying literature once the Alps were opened up after the first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786. Creative responses to mountains have covered several art forms with fine art, literature, poetry, music and film figuring strongly in the movement of C19th and C20th mountain aesthetics and criticism. Notably absent, though, is a body of literature examining the theatricality of mountains - a curious paradox given the ancient connection points between mountains, ritual and theatre and the extent to which mountains have inspired writers and artists to produce performances both within traditional theatre spaces and much more recently in mountain environments themselves: NVA (The Storr, 2005); Simon Piasecki (The Nightflight project, 2006); Louise Ann Wilson (Fissure, 2011, Y Helfa, 2014, Warnscale, 2015); Sprinkle and Stephens (Goodbye Gauley Mountain, 2014) Maria Fusco (Master Rock, 2015). Through the production of a monograph, the creation of a new piece of mountain performance (working with a Post Doctoral Research Fellow), several public events and the inauguration of a new interdisciplinary network via a symposium, this fellowship seeks to address this lacuna in mountain studies, delivering the first comprehensive critique of how mountains are exploited as sites for performance, are represented in dramatic literature, and how they themselves 'perform'. Mountains are one of the most visible victims in the exploitation of the planet, both in terms of hard industry (the practice of Mountain Top Removal, for instance) and softer eco-tourism (the impact of tourist climbing on Everest and other 'signature' peaks). They continue to attract enormous interest from the media and many climbers enjoy celebrity status, equal to that of their acting counterparts in mountain films. This visibility, fuelled by social media, is a blessing and a curse for mountain environments; on the one hand it raises awareness of the uniqueness of mountainscapes and the need to preserve them and on the other it builds expectations of participants' direct experience of those landscapes, encouraging long-haul travel and increasing footfall in delicately balanced environments. Focusing on behaviour, space, psychology and technology, the project seeks to raise significant awareness of the challenges to mountain environments, both for arts-based audiences and outdoor enthusiasts, collaborating with the project partner Kendal Mountain Festival and disseminating research findings using the mountain festival network (Fort William, Llanberis and internationally in Banff and Jasper, Canada). In sum, this fellowship will carry out and disseminate research that develops a new understanding of the relationship of theatre and performance to mountain culture and mountaineering. It will harness performance-based histories and embodied knowledges to expand our understanding of how specific communities interact with, value, and mediate mountains, asking fundamental questions of our changing relationship to high places.