Listening to the Archive’s Fragmentary Voices

Cecilia Lagerström is a theatre director, researcher and Professor of Performance practices at the Academy of Music and Drama, University of Gothenburg. She has a background in physical theatre and performance studies (PhD, 2003) and has been directing performances in theatres and other venues since 1993. Her more recent productions include Suffering, Xenophobia, Nuckan – The Epilogue, and Playing John Hood, presented at Atalante, Folkteatern, and 3:e Våningen in Gothenburg.

Since 2005, Cecilia has played an active role in the development of artistic research in the field of theatre in Sweden. At the Academy, she teaches and supervises students at master’s and doctoral levels. Cecilia’s research interests include performance and physical training practices in relation to directing and dramaturgy, decolonial perspectives on place and the body, performative writing, and walking as an artistic practice. She has published extensively in international journals, and in 2019 her book The Art of Walking (Konsten att gå) was published by Gidlunds förlag.

Cecilia is currently conducting the artistic research project The Sugar Games (Sockerspelen), which offers new perspectives on Gothenburg’s colonial history through the lens of the sugar trade. By bringing to light a colonial past that has largely been forgotten, the project also seeks to activate alternative narratives, bringing neglected voices into play. In the research communication project Sugar Walks (Sockervandringar), which Cecilia carries out together with researcher and artist Monica Sand, the findings and perspectives developed through The Sugar Games are shared with a broader audience through a series of guided city walks. The project is carried out in close collaboration with the Gothenburg City Museum, as well as groups of artists, researchers and students.