2026 Essay
Performing Futures: On Becoming Homo Evolutis
Karolina Bieszczad-Stie
Black Box teater, Oslo, 20 February 2026.
An essay exploring transhumanism, evolving forms of embodiment and the role of performance in imagining possible futures of human–technology coexistence.
2026 Conference presentation
From Microscopy to Immersion: The Cancer Cell as an Object of Choreography and a Space of Experience
Karolina Bieszczad-Stie
Embodied Realms XR Festival, Poznań, Poland, 16 October 2026.
A presentation tracing the development from choreographing living cancer cells in the laboratory (Micro-choreography) to creating an immersive VR environment from confocal microscopy imagery (NanoPlanet).
2026 Conference presentation
From Digital Ghosts to Operative Images: Archiving and Activating Butoh
Karolina Bieszczad-Stie
Butoh Symposium 2026, Kingston University London, UK, 17–18 September 2026.
A presentation examining the relationship between Butoh, archival imagery and digital technologies, and considering how historical images and traces of performance can be reactivated within contemporary artistic practice.
2024 Lecture
Choreography for Homo Evolutis
Karolina Bieszczad-Stie
Invited lecture, Humanities / Art / Technology (HAT) Research Centre, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland, 28 November 2024.
An exploration of choreographic approaches to evolving definitions of the human body in an age of technological transformation. Drawing on projects involving robotics, cell biology, blockchain and fluid mechanics, the presentation considers how dance can investigate relationships between humans and other forms of biological and technological existence.
2024 Journal article
Limit(less): A Choreographic Score for Human and Robot
Mathias Hauan Arbo & Karolina Bieszczad-Stie
Performance Research, Vol. 28, No. 8, On Activation, pp. 85–88. Routledge / Taylor & Francis, 2024.
An article presenting a choreographic score developed for a duet between a human dancer and an industrial robot. It explores the relationship between biological and mechanical bodies, their different movement capacities, and the possibilities of creating a shared choreography.
2022 Lecture
Un-dancing of Butoh: Between Cultural Specificity and Bodily Hybrid Expressions
Karolina Bieszczad-Stie
Invited lecture, seminar series on non-European theatre cultures, Oslo Museum, Norway, 2022.
An examination of Japanese Butoh in relation to cultural identity, transformation and hybrid forms of embodiment, exploring how its choreographic approaches can develop beyond their original cultural and historical contexts.
2024 After-show talk
"The Woman who married a Shrimp"
2022 After-show talk
"Limit(less)"
2023 After-show talk
"Limit(less)" - the film
2021 After-show talk
"Rebellion of the Cell"
2011 Journal article
Butoh: Duet for Dancer and Photographer
Karolina Bieszczad-Roley
PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, Vol. 33, No. 3 (PAJ 99), pp. 1–10. MIT Press, 2011.
An exploration of the relationship between a Butoh dancer and a photographer, questioning the traditional understanding of photography as documentation. Drawing on artistic practice and personal experience, the article examines how the act of photographing can itself become a performance, with the photographer actively participating in the creative encounter.
2010 PhD thesis
Photo-performance: A Study of the Performativity of Butoh Dance Photography
Karolina Bieszczad-Roley
Brunel University, School of Arts, London, 2010.
A practice-led investigation into the embodied and subjective experience of photographing Butoh dance. Introducing the concepts of photo-performance and photo-actor, the research explores photography as a performative act shaped by the interaction between dancer and photographer, extending beyond the production of photographic images.