Biography
Dr. Matthew Causey is currently Head of School of Creative Arts at TCD. He is Professor in Drama, College Fellow, and Director of the Arts Technology Research Laboratory. He is author of 'Theatre and Performance in Digital Culture: from simulation to embeddedness' (Routledge 2006). Recent publications include the essay 'Postdigital Performance' in 'Theatre Journal' (2017). He co-edited 'The Performing Subject in the Space of Technology: through the virtual towards the real' (Palgrave, 2015) which includes his chapter, 'The Right to be Forgotten and the Image-Crimes of Digital Culture'. He edited with Fintan Walsh 'Performance, Identity and the Neo-political Subject' (Routledge, 2014). His essay 'The Object of Desire of the Machine: the biopolitics of the posthuman' is anthologized in 'Resisting Biopolitics: philosophical, political and performative strategies' edited by Wilmer and Zukauskaite (Routledge, 2015). His theoretical writings on performance and techno-culture are published in 'Theatre Journal', 'Theatre Research Int'l', 'Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism', and 'TheatreForum' among others. In 2017 he was keynote speaker at the TaPRA (Theatre and Performance Research Association) Conference at Birkbeck University. In 2016 he keynoted at the 'Coimbra International Conference On the Virtual' at University of Coimbra, Department of Philosophy, Portugal. He was the keynote speaker at the Irish Museum of Modern Art's symposium on the artist John Gerrard. In 2015 he was keynote speaker at Ghent University's conference 'Does It Matter: Composite Bodies and Posthuman Prototypes in Contemporary Performing Arts' and the 'Digital Echoes' symposium at Coventry University. Funded by the HEA he created the Arts Technology Research Laboratory, which serves as an interdisciplinary postgraduate research centre in the area of art, technology and digital culture. He designed the Arts Strand of the HEA-funded Ireland-wide PhD in Digital Arts and Humanities which partners TCD, UCC, NUIM, NUIG and northern partners UU and QUB in a collaborative programme training researchers in new technologies, practices and theories of digital research. Dr. Causey is also a digital filmmaker and he has adapted, edited and directed three of Samuel Beckett's televisual works, 'Ghost Trio', 'Nacht und Träume' and ' but the clouds '. His film, 'Frank and Marie', was an official selection of both the Boston Irish Film Festival and Dublin's Darklight Digital Festival in 2004. As a musician he has recently produced two releases of original compositions, 'The Art of Living' and 'Obedientia Civium Urbis Felicitas' with his band Tujacques whose live performances included a spot at the Electric Picnic 2012. As a theatre-maker his performance work 'Tall Ships' was featured in the Dublin Fringe Festival 2014. Matthew's long career in theatre and performance, film and video stretches back to the seminal art period of the East Village and Soho in the 1970s and 80s. His original theatre works including 'Luminous Bodies', 'Paradise Regained', 'The Book of Ezekiel' and 'The Ecstasy of St. Zero, Retold' were performed throughout Soho during that time and were all chosen as 'Choices' in NYC's 'Village Voice'. The works were presented at such venues as the Envelope at the Performing Garage, the Open Space in Soho, and Soho Books. While working in the film industry in LA as an actor and editor he wrote/directed the experimental film 'Radio Word' (1983) featuring the machine-art provocateurs, Survival Research Laboratories. In the 1990s, after earning his PhD at Stanford University, he continued his work as an artist experimenting in new forms of computational and video art with his research group PTRL (Performance Technology Research Laboratory) at Georgia Tech where he was Asst Professor. Dr. Causey developed many intermedial works with PTRL including 'The Bacchae', 'Electricity (after Frankenstein)' and a production of 'Faust' was staged at Atlanta's 7 Stages.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Causey, Matthew, 'The Earth as Data Farm for the Virtual World (the origin of the work of art in postdigital culture)' , TaPRA Conference , Birkbeck University, 20 April, 2017, TaPRA New Technologies Working Group
Causey, Matthew , Encountering the Immaterial Body and the Incorporeal Event in Digital Art: Against the Virtual/Reality Distinction, Conference on the Virtual, Coimbra University, Portugal, 28 October, 2016, Philosophy Department of Coimbra University
Causey, Matthew, Postdigital Performance, Theatre Journal, 68, (3), 2016, p427 - 441
Causey, Matthew, The Earth as Data Farm for the Virtual World: At the Origin of the Work of Art in Digital Culture, The Postdigital, Contributive Economy in Contemporary Art, Irish Museum of Modern Art, 19 December, 2016, ATRL/DIT
Causey, Matthew, The Object of Desire of the Machines, Rewind Film Festival, RUA RED, 7 November, 2015, Rua Red: South Dublin Arts Centre
Causey, Matthew, The Right to be Forgotten and the Image-Crimes of Digital Culture (Keynote Presentation), Digital Echoes Symposium, Coventry University, 13 February, 2015, CDaRE The Centre for Dance Research
The Object of Desire of Machine: The Biopolitics of the Posthuman in, editor(s)Steve Wilmer and Audrone Zukauskaite , Resisting Biopolitics: Philosophical, Political and Performative Strategies, London, Routledge, 2015, pp202 - 215, [Matthew Causey]
Matthew Causey, Emma Meehan, Neill O'Dwyer, The Performing Subject in the Space of Technology: through the virtual toward the real, London, Palgrave, 2015, 1 - 242pp
The Right to be Forgotten and the Image-Crimes of Digital Culture in, editor(s)Matthew Causey, Emma Meehan, Neill O'Dwyer , The Performing Subject in the Space of Technology: through the virtual toward the real, London, Palgrave, 2015, pp69 - 81, [Matthew Causey]
Causey, Matthew, The Right to be Forgotten and the Image-Crimes of Digital Culture, (Keynote Presentation), Does It Matter? Composite Bodies and Posthuman Prototypes in Contemporary Performing Arts, University of Ghent, Belgium,, 17-19 March, 2015
Causey, Matthew, ''Tall Ships'', Dublin Fringe Festival, Arts Technology Research Laboratory, 2014, -
ID/entity: The Subject's Own Taking Place in, editor(s)Matthew Causey and Fintan Walsh , Performance, Identity and the Neo-Political Subject, New York and London, Routledge, 2013, pp33 - 50, [Matthew Causey and Gabriella Calchi Novati]
Matthew Causey and Fintan Walsh, Performance, Identity and the Neo-Political Subject, First, New York and London, Routledge, 2013, 1 - 273pp
Causey, Matthew, Herbert Blau (1926-2013), Journal of Beckett Studies, 23, (1), 2013, p120 - 124
Matthew Causey, 'Obedientia Civium Urbis Felicitas', 2013, -
Causey, Matthew; Tujacques, ''The Art of Living'', Dublin, Ireland, Windmill Lane Studios, 2012, -
Causey, Matthew, 'Tujacques', Electric Picnic, 2012, -
Causey, Matthew, Suppositions (as in uncertain beliefs) on the current place of theatre , Theatre Research International, 35, (3), 2010, p299 - 300
Causey, Matthew, ...but the clouds..., 2010, -
Causey, Matthew, Naucht und Traume, 2010, -
Causey, Matthew , Review of 'Digital Practices: Aesthetic and Neuroesthetic Approaches to Performance and Technology', by Susan Broadhurst , Contemporary Theatre Review, 19, (2), 2009, p237 - 239
Causey, Matthew, Review of Theatre of Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio , by Romeo Castellucci, Joe Kellehr, Nicholar Ridout, Claudia Castellucci, and Chiara Castellucci , Theatre History Studies, 29, (1), 2009
Jus Soli/Jus Sanguinis: The Biopolitics of Irishness in, editor(s)Sara Brady and Fintan Walsh , Crossroads: Performance Studies and Irish Culture, Palgrave, 2009, pp153 - 165, [Causey, Matthew]
Causey, Matthew, Review of The Theatre of Societas Raffaello Sanzio, by Romeo Castellucci , Theatre History, 29, 2009, p210-12
Causey, Matthew, Theatre and Performance in Digital Culture: from simulation to embeddedness, paperback, Routledge, 2009, 230pp
Causey, Matthew, Review of Staging the Screen, by Greg Giesekem , Contemporary Theatre Review, 18, (3), 2008, p2
Causey, Matthew, Review of Staging the Screen, by Greg Giesekam , Contemporary Theatre Review, 18.3, (August), 2008
Causey, Matthew, Review of 'Antigone', Irish Theatre Magazine, 3, (15), 2008
Causey, Matthew, Review of Digital Practices: Aesthetic and Neuroesthetic Approaches to Performance and Technology , by Susan Broadhurst , Contemporary Theatre Review, 19, (2), 2008, p3
Causey, Matthew, Review of 'Telepresence and Bio Art - Networking Humans, Rabbits and Robots', by Eduardo Kac , Crossings: An Electronic Journal of Art and Technology, 5, (1), 2007
Causey, Matthew, 'Ghost Trio', Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin, 2007, -
Causey, Matthew, Ghost Trio, 2007, - Running time - 18:00
Matthew Causey, Theatre and Performance in Digital Culture: from simulation to embeddedness, London, Routledge, 2006
La performance postorganica. La apariencia del teatro en los espacios virtuales in, editor(s)Jose Antoinio Mayoral , Literatura y Cibercultura, Madrid, Arcos/Libros S.L., 2004, pp297 - 325, [Matthew Causey]
Screen Test of the Double: the uncanny performer in the space of technology in, editor(s)Philip Auslander , Performance: critical concepts in literary and cultural studies, London, New York, 2004, pp383 - 394, [Matthew Causey]
Causey, Matthew, 'Frank and Marie' - Video (70:00), 2004, -
Mabou Mines, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp777 - 777, [Matthew Causey]
Collectives and Collective Creation, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp286 - 287, [Matthew Causey]
Audience Control, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp91 - 91, [Matthew Causey]
Charles Ludlum, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp771 - 771, [Matthew Causey]
Living Theatre, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp754 - 755, [Matthew Causey]
Ontological-Hysteric Theatre, Dennis Kennedy, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp956 - 956, [Causey, Matthew]
'Ridiculous Theatrical Company', Dennis Kennedy, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp1135 - 1136, [Causey, Matthew]
'Mass media', Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp817 - 818, [Causey, Matthew]
Joseph Chaikin, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp248 - 248, [Matthew Causey]
'Media and Performance', Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp825 - 826, [Causey, Matthew]
Judith Malina, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp792 - 792, [Matthew Causey]
Julian Beck, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp126 - 126, [Matthew Causey]
Causey, Matthew, 'The Aesthetics of Disappearance and Politics of Visibility', Gramma: Journal of Theory and Criticism, Special Issue on The Theatre(s) in the Age of New Technologies, 10., 2003, p59 - 71
'Surrealism', Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp1303 - 1304, [Causey, Matthew]
Open Theatre, Dennis Kennedy, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp965 - 966, [Causey, Matthew]
Richard Foreman, Dennis Kennedy, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp479 - 480, [Causey, Matthew]
'Symbolism', Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp1309 - 1310, [Causey, Matthew]
'Socíetas Raffaello Sanzio', Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp1255 - 1255, [Causey, Matthew]
Cyber Theatre, Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp341 - 341, [Matthew Causey]
'Multi-media performance', Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford, Oxford Universtiy Press, 2003, pp893 - 894, [Causey, Matthew]
Matthew Causey, The Ethics of Being (with) Monsters and Machines, Crossing: An Electronic Journal of Art and Technology, 1, (3), 2002, p22 - 31
Causey, Matthew , Review of 'Spinstern', Irish Theatre Magazine, 3, (12), 2002
Causey, Matthew, Review of 'Marking the Territory' , Irish Theatre Magazine, 3, (11), 2002
'A Theatre of Monsters: live performance in the age of digital media' in, editor(s)Maria M. Delgado and Caridad Svich , Theatre in Crisis?: performance manifestos for a new century, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2002, pp179 - 183, [Causey, Matthew]
Causey, Matthew , Review of 'The Chair', Irish Theatre Magazine, 3, (11), 2002
Causey, Matthew, 'We Shall Be Monsters: the Performance Technology Research Laboratory (1994)', Theatre Forum, 18, (Winter/Spring), 2001, p42 - 51
Causey, Matthew, Review of 'Macbeth', Irish Theatre Magazine, 2, (9), 2001
Causey, Matthew, Review of 'Dublin International Theatre Symposium', Irish Theatre Magazine, 2, (8), 2001
Causey, Matthew, 'Stealing from God: the crisis of creation in in Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio's Genesi and Eduardo Kac's Genesis', Theatre Research International, 26, (2), 2001, p199 - 208
Causey, Matthew, 'Posthuman Performance', Crossings: An Electronic Journal of Art and Technology, 1, (2), 2001, p10 - 19
Causey, Matthew, ''Faust (after Goethe)'', 7 Stages, Atlanta, GA, 1999, -
Causey, Matthew, ''From the Depths of Mirrors. . .the Clatter of Weapons.' ', The Point, 1999, -
Theatre Arts in, editor(s)Charles E. Windquist and Victor Taylor , Routledge Encyclopedia of Postmodernism , London, Routledge , 1999, pp394 - 398, [Causey, Matthew]
Causey, Matthew, 'Screen Test of the Double: the uncanny performer in the space of technology', Theatre Journal, 51, (4), 1999, p383 - 394
Causey, Matthew, 'Videopticon III: The Third Annual Video Art Festival at Georgia Tech', Georgia Tech, 1998, -
'Postorganic Performance: The Appearances of Theatre in Virtual Domains' in, editor(s)Marie-Laure Ryan , Cyberspatial Textuality, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1998, pp182 - 202, [Causey, Matthew]
Causey, Matthew, Review of Aesthetics of Disturbance, by David Graver , Brecht Yearbook., 1997
Causey, Matthew, 'Videopticon II: The Second Annual Video Art Festival at Georgia Tech', 1997, -
Causey, Matthew, 'Videopticon: The First Annual Video Art Festival at Georgia Tech', 1996, -
Causey, Matthew, Review of 'Theatre at the Margins', by Erik MacDonald , Essays in Theatre/Etudes Theatrales, 13, (2), 1995
Causey, Matthew, 'Mapping the Dematerialized: Writing Postmodern Performance Theory', Postmodern Culture, 5, (2), 1995, p50 - 59
Causey, Matthew, 'Pataphysical Rerouting', The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, IX, (2), 1995, p29 - 64
Causey, Matthew, Review of Presence and Resistance: Postmodernism and Cultural Politics in Contemporary American Performance , by Philip Auslander , Theatre Journal, 47, (1), 1995, p155-7
Causey, Matthew, 'Televisual Performance', Essays in Theatre/Etudes Theatrales, 13, (1), 1994, p61 - 71
Causey, Matthew, 'Schizophrenia, Pastiche and the Myth of Repetition', Vanishing Point, 1, 1994, p31 - 43
Causey, Matthew, 'How to Make a Postmodern Play', 1994, -
Causey, Matthew, 'powers of the false' , 1993, -
Causey, Matthew, ''Taping Through Silence: You Have a Beautiful Mind But It's Time You Threw It Away'', 1992, -
Causey, Matthew, 'Pataphysical Rerouting', 1992, -
Causey, Matthew , 'War is Beautiful: Futurist Art, Performance and Theory (Italy 1909-19)', 1992, -
Causey, Matthew, 'Hidden Crimes', 1985, -
Causey, Matthew, Radio World, 1983, -
Causey, Matthew, ''Crash'', Contemporary Arts Centre, New Orleans, LA, 1979, -
Causey, Matthew, 'Crash', Bachy 15, 15, 1979, p77 - 86
Causey, Matthew, ''Paradise Regained'', The Performing Garage, NYC, 1978, -
Causey, Matthew, ''Luminous Bodies'', Open Space in Soho, NYC, 1978, -
Causey, Matthew, ''The Book of Ezekiel'', Drama Ensemble, NYC, 1978, -
Causey, Matthew, ''The Ecstasy of St. Zero, Retold'', Soho Books, NYC, 1977, -
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Causey, Matthew, ''The Black Sun'', Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD, 2002, -
Causey, Matthew, ''The Apparatus'', Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD, 2001, -
Causey, Matthew, ''Electricity'', Performance Technology Research Laboratory, Atlanta, GA, 2000, -
Causey, Matthew, ''The Bacchae'', 1997, -
Causey, Matthew, 'Death (Enrico IV: The Uncanny)', Stanford, CA, 1993, -
Causey, Matthew, ''Laboratory of Hallucinations'', Stanford, CA, 1992, -
Causey, Matthew, ''Kill The Dog' ', Stanford, CA, 1991, -
Research Expertise
Description
My research explores the frontiers of the theory and practice of theatre and performance in digital culture. The strategy of the research is to articulate the cultural condition of digital societies, the social impact and philosophical problems of technologised institutional structures and the construction of identity in electronic communications. I innovate on the methods of digital art practice which includes an exchange with science and technology, engineering, computer science and art and I consider the manners in which that exchange fundamentally shifts the practices of each field. My book, 'Theatre and Performance in Digital Culture', edited collections, book chapters, journal publications and keynote presentations all explore that matrix. I designed the Arts Technology Research Laboratory on that model to embrace the synergies of the School of Creative Arts' performance and time-based disciplines to encourage the re-imagining of the arts in play with computational systems. My research is deeply engaged with the social issues surrounding digital culture and in some cases, examines the legal issues surrounding being in the space of technology such as the 'right to be forgotten' in Google search engines and the troubling impossibility of being forgotten in a digital system. I question how victims of trauma whose abuse has been electronically circulated can never be forgotten creating a ceaseless circulation of victimisation. I attempt to transfer that model of traumatic Internet identity to a grounding theory of digital culture and reflect on the manners in which performance practices are influenced. The number of citations of my writings, various keynote invitations and requests for publication indicates the influence my research is experiencing. Additionally, I pursue practice-based research as an inter-medial artist and digital filmmaker. I have pursued my practice-based training and research for many years as a professional theatre producer, director and writer in NYC during 1970s and 80s, and as film and video maker in Los Angeles in the 1980s and 1990s. My recent work includes two short films based on several of Samuel Beckett television plays, a collaborative stage adaptation of Beckett's 'Ill Seen Ill Said' and the release of two albums of original music.Projects
- Title
- ATRL - Arts Technology Research Laboratory
- Summary
- The Arts Technology Research Laboratory (ATRL) is an interdisciplinary, postgraduate research centre of the School of Drama, Film and Music at Trinity College Dublin designed to explore the emergent fields of creative arts practice and new technologies. ATRL senior scholars and postgraduate researchers will innovate unique practical methods while pursuing critical, historical and theoretical research in order to engage future art forms of digital culture that are networked, interactive, multimedia, hybrid, virtual, immersive and ubiquitous. ATRL draws on the synergies of the School of Drama, Film and Music's performance and time-based disciplines to re-imagine film and video, music and sound production, and theatre, dance, live art and installation in a digital environment. In collaboration with the Schools of Computer Science and Engineering, ATRL brings the scientist, engineer, artist and scholar into dialogue to offer the widest range of experimental opportunities and academic rigour in the practice and study of digital culture and the arts.
- Funding Agency
- HEA Capital Grant
- Title
- PhD in Digital Art and Humanities
- Summary
- The Structured Ph.D. in Digital Arts and Humanities (DAH) will create the research platform, the structures, partnerships and innovation models by which fourth-level researchers can engage with a wide range of stakeholders in order to contribute to economic development on the island of Ireland and provide new professional opportunities for graduates. DAH will firmly establish a new research agenda by training the first cohort of PhDs in Ireland in the new technologies, methodologies, and theories for digitally-mediated arts and humanities, and by asking new and bold research questions which would have been inconceivable before the development of these new technologies and paradigms. The Structured PhD in DAH is a four-year programme that will provide world-class training in innovative models of arts practice and theory, and humanities research, archiving, and pedagogy. The programme will promote advanced practical and academic research in the application of new media and computer technologies in the arts and humanities. DAH will be multi-disciplinary and inter-institutional and will provide coherent exposure to transferable skills in digital content creation that will be enabling, academically rigorous and commercially viable.
- Funding Agency
- HEA - PRTLI Cycle 5
- Date From
- 2011
Recognition
Representations
Editorial Board Member of Crossings: An Electronic Journal of Art and Technology. Editor, Mads Haahr. Trinity College Dublin. Current.
Editorial Board Member of International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. Editor, Maria Chatzichristopoulou. Current.
Editorial Board Member of Theatre Research International. Editors, Christopher Balme, Brian Singleton. Previous.
Editorial Board Member of Contemporary Theatre Review. Editors, David Bradby and Maria Delgado. Routledge. Previous.
Awards and Honours
AHSS Benefaction Fund: Theatre (at the origin of the virtual)
Provost's Visual and Performing Arts Fund: 'All the Young Punks'
AHSS Benefaction Fund: Theatre (The Scratch of Authenticity)
Trinity Long Room Hub Research Initiative Fund: Televisual Beckett (Abstract Machines)
Provost's Fund for Visual and Performing Arts
Provost's Fund for Visual and Performing Arts
2004 Learning Innovation Project: 'New Media/New Theatre', Centre for Academic Practice
2004 Provost's Fund for Visual and Performing Arts. Film Project. Trinity College Dublin
2004 Official Selection of Boston Irish Film Festival, Frank and Marie, a film by M Causey
2004 Official Selection of Darklight Digital Festival, Frank and Marie, a film by M Causey
AHSS Benefaction Fund: Posthuman Performance
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Program in the Humanities for School and College Educators: Modern Theatre with Herb Blau at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)
Whiting Fellowship at CalArts (declined)
Stanford Humanities Centre Year Fellowship (declined)
Stanford University Postgraduate Fellowship and Stipend
Memberships
International Federation of Theatre Research (IFTR/FIRT)
American Society of Theatre Research
Irish Society for Theatre Research
Association of Theatre in Higher Education
Performance Studies International
Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA)