This week I went to the Association of  Adaptation Studies (AAS) Annual conference to present my research on the Eidophusikon. Istanbul is a huge, fantastic, historical and  beautiful city. It was such a pleasure to come here and to share my work and also to have a few days left over to enjoy the city itself.

Istanbul is a really amazing city and there’s a lot of things to see and do. However, I was here for a conference so I had to make sure that I was mentally ready to share my research for the first time with the community of scholars as opposed to the theatre audience.  I did worry about it that I need not have people who attended the paper were very enthusiastic and I had many great conversations about it.  I met some amazing Turkish scholars end others from the Middle East region who are based in Istanbul.  It’s a different community to the one I’m used to in the U.K. I found them very stimulating.They were sharing really interesting research , and the conversations about ideas flowed like water. I hope we will continue to have conversations and perhaps future collaborations.

I was very aware that trying to explain the Eido to people who were not subject specialist (and it is a very niche subject indeed) might be a little bit tricky, but fortunately, I’d prepared quite a lot of imagery, so I could show rather than explain – and then the explanations followed.  The main thrust of the paper was to talk about the challenges in adapting an archaic art form into a work of contemporary art.This included discussing the collaborative process and the ways in which I am hoping to develop the project going forward.

One of the problems that became clear when I was discussing it was that the whole nature of the project is that it is live, and it would be really great to be able to perform it for people. Filming it is never going to be as intense as the live show. This made me really think about how I’m really going to be able to show it abroad.

There are a few options. First of all, the Eido I have now is far too big and heavy to ship outside of the U. K, even inside the UK I need a van to transport it. This has made me start to think about creating  a smaller, more portable  yet perhaps more complex structure.  I need to think about this because I would really like to exhibit it abroad.

So, it may be something I could have built at my destination and bring the artwork with me or it may even be something that I can have built in London and then pack it, like a lightweight shell. The structure of the Eidophusikon is actually very simple. It’s the bits and pieces such as the lights, grooves and the materials that go inside (the backdrops, scenographies and so on) that are complex.

It may be that I can dispense with the large and unwieldy shell and have onee custom built-in advance of arriving at the place with this work.  It’s worth a try. I’m going to think about it.