Darkness as Method: Research-Creation, Pedagogy, and Institutional Exchange between Valparaíso and Montreal

Join LePARC for an informal exchange with visiting scholar from School of Theatre at Universidad de Valparaíso (Chile) Tamara Figueroa. She will introduce current research-creation, pedagogical, and institutional initiatives developed at Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile, in dialogue with LePARC and Concordia University. The conversation will address the School of Theatre, the Centro de Investigaciones Artísticas, and the Núcleo Interdisciplinario de Creación, Innovación y Desarrollo Territorial, while considering Valparaíso and Montréal as antipodal port cities connected by movement, distance, memory, opposite hemispheres, and different oceans. From her role as an academic ambassador of this university context, Tamara will then share her own artistic research on darkness, shadows, dreams, and light as methodological materials. Through the idea of “darkness as method,” the exchange proposes a dialogue on live arts, university-based artistic research, and institutional bridges between Valparaíso and Montréal.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Tamara Figueroa AS is a Bachelor of Arts, performance designer, lighting designer, and academic at the School of Theatre, Faculty of Architecture, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile, where she has taught since 2015.

Her professional trajectory brings together artistic creation, research, university teaching, and cultural project management, with a particular focus on the intersections between scenic design, technology, production, and innovation applied to the live arts.

Throughout her career, she has developed theatre, artistic, and audiovisual projects with the support of public, private, and international institutions. In 2007, together with the collective Sociedad Inmaterial, she received the UNESCO Prize for the Performing Arts for the project Reversible, presented in Prague, Czech Republic.

She currently serves as Creative Director of Dique5, a studio through which she develops lighting design, scenic creation, and technical-artistic research projects. She is also a board member of ADTRES, the Chilean Association of Scenic Designers, Technicians, and Stage Practitioners.

Her artistic background is complemented by studies in Visual Arts and Contemporary Architecture at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. She is currently completing the final year of an International MBA, deepening her work in strategic management, cultural innovation, creative industries, theatre, and technologies.

📅  September  29, 2026

⏱️ 5-6 PM

📍Performance Lab EV 10.785