2003 PSi9 "Field Station, New Zealand: Environment/Performance"

The University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zeal with Te Puna Toi Performance Research Project NZ

Experimental format: The call-for-papers invited participants from around the world to an experience of collaborative research based on the close relationship between tourism and academic conferencing: "Conferences are often attractive because they offer the opportunity to travel to new or, for many in this case, remote locations."

Sharon Mazer: "People (especially US) scared by distance, war, disease (SARS) and the uneasiness of the experimental format. Also uncomfortable with explicit tourist component. As a result, a small conference (55 attending) but also a more diverse, mixed group: first time PSi-ers and people who'd been to every one since its inception; higher proportion of postgraduate students, including one group led by postgrads; high proportion of artists, with several groups led by artists; high proportion of Maori (ie, native peoples), including two groups led by Maori artists.… Unconventional in that both in large and small groups, people basically were in the room with each other far more than is usual, in that there was much more direct (and directed) contact with the place of the conference, and in that the outcome is still making itself known through publications, artworks and discussions at other conferences -- as well as in collaborations."