Professor Laure Pépin obtained a PhD in Theatre and Performance in 2016 from the University of Bristol, in England.
She taught Performance Forms and Analysis in this same University, exploring different ways in which elements of performance practices have been configured through cultural contexts. In Paris she taught theatre, acting, improvisation and she directed contemporary plays with the Candela Theatre Company.
Her current research, both practical and theoretical, is looking at gender issues on the art scene, how gender is performed and how it can raise political and social questions.
She has been working closely with influential French feminist artists such as ORLAN, Catherine Baÿ and Déborah de Robertis and is involved in French feminist activism (La Barbe, OLF…). Thus she investigates the links between performance, theatre and activism.
Working closely with the Théâtre du Mouvement, her artwork is focusing on deconstructing gender stereotypes through disarticulating the body and using movement techniques (Feldenkrais, Laban’s..), intending to create a new body language that is more coherent with our own fictions and definitions of selves.
Her artwork and research are now based in France mainly.
Education/Degrees
2010 - 2016 UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL (UK)
PhD Theatre and Performance
Dissertation: ORLAN and Dismemberment in Feminist Contemporary Performances
Supervisor: Dr Paul Clarke
Committee: Dr Simon Jones, Dr Kara Reilly, Dr Catherine Hindson
2008 - 2009 NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY (UK)
MA Fine Art
Dissertation: The Female Body in Modern Society
Supervisors: Professor Danica Maier and Professor John Newling
2007 - 2008 LANCASTER UNIVERSITY / UNIVERSITE DE POITIERS (France) MA Arts du Spectacle / Theatre Studies (Erasmus exchange)
Dissertation: Cruelty in Contemporary Feminist British Theatre Supervisor: Dr Romain Jobez
2004 - 2007 UNIVERSITE DE POITIERS (France) BA Arts du Spectacle / Performing Arts
Publications
Pépin, L., 2015. The Female Body in Modern Society. Germany: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing.
Alcazar, L., Constantin, S., Delamare, E., Hutsol, A., Pépin, L., Shevchenko, I. and Stern, M., 2015. Manifeste Femen. France: Les Editions Utopia
Conferences & Lectures
2024
DEBAT COUVERT – PARIS, France
Gender Stereotypes and Love.
2016
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTOM, UK
20th Century Studies Symposium
At Home and Abroad: Politics and Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century.
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER, UK
Postgraduate Research on Political Thoughts.
Research Areas
2012 – 2013 THEATRE DU MOUVEMENT (Paris & Lectoure, France)
Research: Primitivism and the Organic in Contemporary Theatre.
2013 – THE WINDOW, CATHERINE BAŸ (Paris, France)
Research: Desynchronization between sound and voice in Contemporary Performances.
2009 – BROADWAY DIGITAL ART CENTRE (Nottingham, UK)
Research: Interactions Development between the audience and digital arts.
Awards, Fellowships and Grants
- 2023 Théâtre du Mouvement, artist residency, Lectoure, France
- 16-17 Backlit Gallery, associate artist, Nottingham, UK
- 15-16 Théâtre du Mouvement, associate artist, Paris, France
- 2013 Théâtre du Mouvement, artist residency, Paris, France
- 2009 New Art Exchange Gallery, artist residency, Nottingham, UK