Dr Katerina Paramana
Senior Lecturer in Theatre

Research area(s)

• Contemporary: Performance, Theatre, Choreography/Post-Dance
• Live Art
• Political Economy
• Performance, Critical, Political, Social, and Cultural Theory
• Ethics and Social Justice
• Spectatorship and Participation
• Affect and Collectivity
• Capitalism, Biopolitics, Neoliberalism
• Bodies, Politics, and Well-being
• Continental Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Indigenous Philosophies
• Practice-as-Research
• Racial Capitalism, Migration, Homelessness

Research Interests

In broad terms, Katerina's interdisciplinary research is concerned with the socio-political and ethical dimensions of contemporary performance. It brings into conversation performance (both theory and her artistic practice), political economy, critical theory, philosophy, and cultural and social theory. Her current research focuses on the relationship between performance and political economy. She is interested in how bodies affect and are affected by political economies at micro and macro levels and in the ethico-political challenges that contemporary performance practices propose to the political economies in which they are created and presented. Her Routledge monograph Contemporary Performance and Political Economy: Oikonomia as a New Ethico-Political Paradigm is in press and available to pre-order, and has been lauded by international leaders in the field. Her previous books Performance, Dance and Political Economy: Bodies at the End of the World (2021, Paramana and Gonzalez) and Art and Dance in Dialogue: Body, Space, Object (2020, Whatley, Sarah, Racz, Imogen, Paramana, Katerina, and Crawley, Marie-Louise), published with Bloomsbury Academic and Palgrave Macmillan respectively, also received high praise from reviewers. Her research has been additionally published with refereed academic journals including Performance Research, Contemporary Theatre Review, GPS: Global Performance Studies, Dance Research, and Filozofski Vestnik.

Katerina's internationally presented performance practice and practice-based research draws on theatre, the visuals arts, and dance and takes the form of experimental theatre, performance, installation-, and lecture-performance. Through its consideration of the relationship between image, body, time, context, and the encounter with the spectator, her work explores the political, philosophical, social, and ethical dimensions and potentials of performance. It has been presented in theatres, studios, and galleries in the UK, US, and Europe, in venues such as Gasworks Gallery, The White Building, ]performance s p a c e [, Laban Theatre, The Place, and Toynbee Studios in London; the Institute of Design at Stanford University; the Kultuhuset in Stockholm; Galeria Boavista in Lisbon; and the Michael Cacoyannis Theatre in Athens. Katerina has also collaborated as a performer with various theatre, performance, and dance companies and artists in the UK and the US (e.g. Tino Sehgal, Washington Improv Theatre (WIT), Blair Thomas, Ilona Sagar, Ivana Müller, The Famous Lauren Barri Holstein, Bojana Cvejic and Christine De Smedt, Janez Janša, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Nejla Yatkin, Deviated Theatre, Lea Anderson, Simon Vincenzi, and Risa Jaroslow). She has performed at venues including the Barbican Theatre, National Theatre Studio, Tate Modern, Southbank Centre, Laban Theatre, and Siobhan Davies Studios in London; the Michael Cacoyannis Theatre and Duncan Dance Research Centre in Athens; the Kennedy Centre, Kogod Theatre, Greenberg Theatre, Kay Theatre, GALA Theatre at Tivoli Square, Dance Place, and the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.; the Chicago Cultural Centre and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Centre in Chicago; and the Lincoln Centre in NYC. From 2015-2018, Katerina was a Participating Artist of Sadler’s Wells Summer University, which was led by Jonathan Burrows and Eva Martinez.

FUNDING & AWARDS

Katerina has received funding and awards for her theoretical and practice-based research from AHRC (the Arts and Humanities Research Council), the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, The British Society of Aesthetics, Santander Universities, Gasworks Gallery/Pedro Lagoa, and the Hellenic Centre of the International Institute of Theatre, as well BRIEF, BRIL, and Research Seminar Series Awards from Brunel University of London (list of grants available at the end of the page). She was an Associate Researcher with Performance Matters, an AHRC-funded creative research project and collaboration between University of Roehampton, London, Goldsmiths, University of London, and the Live Art Development Agency, investigating the cultural value of performance (directed by Adrian Heathfield, Gavin Butt, and Lois Keidan). In 2023, Katerina was shortlisted at Brunel for a Research Impact Award.

INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP & CONSULTING

Katerina has international leadership experience in research and education, and consults on related matters. She is founding editor of the journal section 'Political Economy and the Arts' at Lateral, the refereed journal of the Cultural Studies Association, USA (2022 - present); the issue Performance and Political Economy: Bodies, Politics and Well-Being is in press for Lateral journal's Fall 2024 13(2) issue. She is also founding book series co-editor of the Bloomsbury press interdisciplinary Book Series Dance in Dialogue (four books), an assessor on the AHRC Peer Review College for techne (AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership), and on the Editorial Board of Body, Space, & Technology journal. She has served on the Board of Directors of Performance Studies International (PSi) and on the Executive Committee of the Society for Dance Research. She serves on Performance Studies International (PSi) Advisory Committee on Antiracism and Anticolonialism, which she co-founded. She is also an Onassis Scholars' Association Member and Mentor and has examined PhD projects in UK and Europe. She is a member of consultation, education policy, programme design and (re)validation, and tenure and promotion committees internationally. 

LEADERSHIP ROLES AT BRUNEL:

At Brunel, Katerina has had several research leadership roles, including her current roles (since 2022) as Research Lead for Theatre, PGR Director for the CBASS Global Lives Research Centre, Lead of the CBASS Performance, Cultures and Politics Research Group, and Lead of the Arts and Humanities' Research Peer-Mentoring Scheme for Academic Staff, which she designed.

Recent Invited Talks

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS & PRACTICE-BASED OUTPUTS

(for full texts visit my Academia.edu page)

Books

• (Monograph In Press and available to pre-order; 2025) Paramana, Katerina. Contemporary Performance and Political Economy: Oikonomia as a New Ethico-Political Paradigm. Routledge.
• 2021. Paramana, Katerina and Gonzalez, Anita. Performance, Dance and Political Economy: Bodies at the End of the World. Bloomsbury Academic.
• 2020. Whatley, Sarah, Racz, Imogen, Paramana, Katerina, and Crawley, Marie-Louise. Art and Dance in Dialogue: Body, Space, Object. Palgrave Macmillan.

Book Series

• Founding Series Co-Editor of the Interdisciplinary Book Series Dance in Dialogue. Bloomsbury Academic (four books).

Journals Edited

Founding Editor of the 'Political Economy and the Arts' Section, Lateral, The Cultural Studies Association Journal.

2024 (In Press) Paramana, Katerina (ed.) Performance and Political Economy: Bodies, Politics and Well-Being, Political Economy and the Arts section, Lateral, the Journal of the Cultural Studies Association, 13(2).

Refereed Journal Articles and Chapters

See 'Selected Publications' tab.

Practice-Based Outputs

a) DVDs

Available at the British Library and the Live Art Developement Agency's Study Room:

• Talking with Strangers: What is Violence?, Performance Matters – Potentials of Performance, (2012) The White Building, London.
• Martyro, Performance Matters – Trashing Performance –Trash Salon: How to do things with waste?, (2011) Toynbee Studios, London.

b) Performance Presentations (Selected) 

(In preparation)  Martyro Exploded (working title).

2015 Now What?, Michael Cacoyannis Theatre, Athens, Greece. Co-created with Elena Koukoli. Performed by Stella Dimitrakopoulou, Elena Koukoli, and Katerina Paramana.

2014 IDEA: THIS IS GOOD, Gasworks Gallery, London (Part of the archive of destruction by Pedro Lagoa).

2013 Video Performances co-created with Kathleya Afanador, Antje Hildebrandt, Elena Koukoli, and Ligia Zuccarello Rizzo (as part of Toothache Duets, by Eirini Kartsaki and Louise Douse) ]performance s p a c e [,  London.

2013 Talking about Economy/ies, Performance Studies International (PSi#19),Studio 2, Building 550, Stanford University, US.Co-created with Gigi Argyropoulou.

2012 Talking with Strangers: What is Violence?, Galeria Boavista, Lisbon, Portugal.

2012 Talking with Strangers: What is Violence?, Potentials of Performance, part of Performance Matters, The White Building, London.– http://www.thisisperformancematters.co.uk/words-and-images.136.html– http://www.thisisperformancematters.co.uk/home.html

2011 Muddle, muddle toil and trouble: Disorder and potentiality – A Lecture- Performance. Part of PANDEMIC, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, U.K.Performed by Stella Dimitrakopoulou, Antje Hildebrandt, Eirini Kartsaki, and Katerina Paramana.

2011 Martyro, Trash Salon, Performance Matters Symposium, Toynbee Studios, London.Performed by Katerina Paramana.

2011 Metrology, Stockholm Fringe Fest 2011, Kultuhuset, Stockholm.Performed by Antje Hildebrandt and Katerina Paramana.

2011 Muddle, muddle toil and trouble: Disorder and potentiality – A Lecture- Performance.Jubilee Building, University of Roehampton, London.Performed by Antje Hildebrandt, Eirini Kartsaki, Elena Koukoli, and Katerina Paramana.

2011 Muddle, muddle toil and trouble: Disorder and potentiality – A Lecture- Performance.‘Communi(cati)on of Crisis’ Symposium, Nafpaktos, Greece. Organised by the Institute for Live Arts Research under the auspices of Athens University and Municipality of Nafpaktos.Performed by Elena Koukoli, Nana Sachini, Eirini Kartsaki, and Katerina Paramana.

2011 Metrology, Jubilee Theatre, University of Roehampton, London.Performed by Antje Hildebrandt and Stella Dimitrakopoulou.

2011 Metrology, C4CC (Centre for Creative Collaboration), LondonPart of Making & UnmakingText Across Performance Practices and Theories. Funded by Beyond Text, an AHRC ProgrammePerformed by Antje Hildebrandt and Stella Dimitrakopoulou.

2011 Metrology, Part of Resolution!, The Robin Howard Dance Theatre,The Place, London.Performed by Antje Hildebrandt and Stella Dimitrakopoulou.

2010 E Pulvere Lux Et Vis, 125 Magazine, Photoshoot Choreographer, Sept. 2010 Art Issue (16), p. 212-219, London. Photography Dan Swallow, Art Director Martin Yates.(http://www.125magazine.com/?p_id=19)

2009 Tea Party,  Deptford X Festival, London. Co-created and performed with Michelle Lynch, Antje Hildebrandt, and Laura Blackley. In collaboration with Artmongers.

2009 The Adult Waltz Starving Loretta Home, Studio Theatre, Laban, London.

2009 Subjectile, Co-created and performed with Kathleya Afanador, Laban, London. Concept and Design Alex Rainford-Roberts.

2009 Three, Studio Theatre, Laban, London.

2006 ‘Aint’I a Woman’, Co-created with Stacy Wilson, Dance Theatre, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Centre, MD, US.

2006 Hang Pictures on the Air, Dance Theatre, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Centre, MD, US. Performed by Katerina Paramana.

2006 Distance, Laboratory Theatre, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Centre, MD, US.

2005 From the Real to the Surreal, Dance Theatre, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Centre, MD, US. Performed by Yoko Feinman and JR Russ.

Creative Text Online Publications

• Paramana, Katerina. 2013. (Re)definition of the term ‘solidarity’. PSi Manifesto Lexicon. Gigi Argyropoulou, Konstantina Georgelou, Efrosini Protopapa, Danae Theodoridou and Steriani Tsintziloni (eds.).
• Paramana, Katerina. 2012. (Re)definitions of the terms ‘reading’, ‘co-authoring’ and ‘witness’. PSi Manifesto Lexicon. Gigi Argyropoulou, Konstantina Georgelou, Efrosini Protopapa, Danae Theodoridou and Steriani Tsintziloni (eds.). 

RESEARCH PROJECTS & RELATED ACTIVITIES (Selected)

• (2022-23) Curated and organised the Research Seminar Series 'Performance and Political Economy: Bodies, Politics, and Well-Being in the 21st Century'.
• (2021-22) Co-PI, BRIL Research Award ('Brunel Research Interdisciplinary Lab') for the interdisciplinary collaborative project 'The Social, Ecological, Political, and Cultural Implications of Extinction'.
• (2019-22) PI, BRIEF Research Award Project (‘BRUNEL RESEARCH INITIATIVE AND ENTERPRISE FUND’), Performance and Political Economy, Brunel University of London.
• (2015-18)  Participating Artist, Sadler’s Wells Summer University. Directed by Jonathan Burrows in collaboration with Eva Martinez, Sadler’s Wells, London.
• (2015) Participating Artist, Performing Arts Forum (PAF) with Jonathan Burrows, Jan Ritsema, Mårten Spångberg, and Bojana Cvejic. Siobhan Davies Studios, London.
• (2010-13)  Associate Researcher with Performance Matters, an AHRC-funded Programme. A four-year creative research project and collaboration between University of Roehampton, London, Goldsmiths, University of London and the Live Arts Development Agency investigating the cultural value of performance. Directed by Professor Adrian Heathfield, Dr Gavin Butt and Lois Keidan.

BOARD MEMBERSHIP & ASSESSMENT PANELS

• (2020-present) Co-founder and Member of the PSi Advisory Committee on Antiracism and Anticolonialism
• (2018-present) AHRC Peer Review College for Techne (Doctoral Training Partnership), Performing Arts Subject Group.
• (2018-present) Editorial Board, Body, Space & Technology (BST) Journal
• (2016-2019) Board of Directors, Performance Studies International (PSi)
• (2016-2018) Executive Committee, Society for Dance Research (SDR)

EDITORIAL ROLES

• (2022-present) Founding Journal Section Editor, 'Political Economy and the Arts' at Lateral, the journal of the Cultural Studies Association.
• Founding Book Series Co-Editor, Interdisciplinary Book Series Dance in Dialogue, Bloomsbury Academic (four books).
• (2018-present) Editorial Board, Body, Space & Technology (BST) journal.
• (2016-2019) General Editor, Performance Studies International, PSi Manifesto Lexicon.
• (2015-16) Review Editor, Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices
• (2013-14) Guest Editor, ‘Solidarity and/in Performance: Rethinking Definitions & Exploring Potentialities’ activate e-journal, 3(1).
• (2010-13) Editorial Committee Member, activate e-journal.

 PEER-REVIEWING (Selected)

• Rowman & Littlefield Press
• Arts Journal (ISSN 2076-0752)
• Bloomsbury Academic
• Routledge 
• GPS: Global Performance Studies journal
• Dance Research Journal
• Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism and GPS: Global Performance Studies journal Joint issue
• Performing Ethos: An International Journal of Ethics in Theatre and Performance journal
• Airea, Arts and Interdisciplinary Research Journal, Edinburgh College of Art
• Body, Space & Technology (BST) Journal

EVENT ORGANIZATION (Selected)

• (2022-23) Curated and organised the international Research Seminar Series 'Performance and Political Economy: Bodies, Politics, and Well-Being in the 21st Century'.
• (2022) Co-organiser of the international conference 'Extinction: Implications from the Microbial to the Planetary (ExIMP).
• (2017)  Co-organiser of the international Conference ‘Dialogues on Dance, Philosophy, and Performance in the Contemporary Neoliberal Moment’.
• (2016) Co-organizer of the international Body, Space, Object Symposium, Coventry University.
• (2016) Working Group Convenor and Panel Chair, ‘The production of the Social in Contemporary Performance’, Body, Space, Object Symposium, Coventry University.
• (2013) Curation & organisation of the symposium ‘Rethinking Economies’, University of Roehampton, London. Co-curated and co-organised with Gigi Argyropoulou. Funded by Roehampton University’s Centre for Performance and Creative Exchange.
• (2011) Co-curator of the festival ‘Performing Text / Reading Performance’ (PANDEMIC), Bank Street Arts Gallery, Sheffield, U.K.  

Grants