Heritage Futures
From Barter to Place: Reimagining Reciprocal Cultural Exchange as a Methodology for Place-Based Creative Practice
Nigel Ward
University for the Creative Arts
- Date
- Time
- -
- Room
- A01
- Format
- Paper
- Chair
- Jennifer Young
Presentation abstract
Abstract
Discourses surrounding place-based creative practice increasingly emphasise co-creation, participation and community engagement. Yet relationships between cultural institutions and communities often continue to be characterised by one-directional models of knowledge exchange in which artists, researchers or organisations ‘deliver’ culture to communities rather than creating it collaboratively.
This paper revisits Eugenio Barba’s concept of barter, developed through the work of Odin Teatret, as a potential methodology for contemporary place-based creative research. While barter has traditionally been understood as a form of intercultural theatrical exchange, this paper argues that its wider significance lies in its capacity to establish reciprocal relationships in which artists and communities become equal participants in the production of cultural meaning.
Drawing on examples from socially engaged theatre and community-based creative practice, the paper explores how barter offers an alternative framework for understanding intangible heritage as a dynamic process of exchange rather than a fixed cultural asset. In this model, performance becomes both a mechanism for preserving cultural memory and a means of generating new forms of collective knowledge rooted in place.
The paper suggests that Barba’s work anticipates many of the principles now associated with co-production, cultural democracy and place-based research. It concludes by proposing “creative barter” as a conceptual and methodological framework through which artists, researchers and communities might collaboratively produce knowledge, strengthen local cultural identities and develop more reciprocal approaches to creative research.
In repositioning barter from theatrical practice to research methodology, the paper contributes to current debates surrounding community engagement, partnership, intangible heritage and interdisciplinary approaches to place-based cultural practice.
Meet the presenter
About the presenter
Nigel Ward
Professor Nigel Ward is Professor of Theatre and Film whose research focuses on place-based creative practice, community co-creation and performance as research. His work examines how participatory artistic methodologies generate cultural exchange, strengthen local identities and create new forms of knowledge through collaboration between artists, researchers and communities. Drawing on an international career in higher education and the creative industries, he is currently developing a research agenda around creative barter as a methodology for place-based cultural innovation, heritage and community engagement.