Listening to Animals: Interspecies Understandings through Performance-Based Research

We live in an interspecies community, and yet much of the time only human perspectives are acknowledged or considered valid. In order for animal perspectives to be recognized, the mode of inquiry needs to privilege animal ways of knowing and being in the world; it needs to privilege performance, and practice-based research. This paper explores the potential and importance of engaging performance-based research in interspecies contexts. The analysis centers on the performance-based research project, Playing in Silence, which invites musicians to improvise with horses in an open and unstructured space. Playing in Silence demonstrates that through the shared language of performance, humans and horses can co-create understandings, expand knowledges, and learn about one another. Many humans spend an inordinate amount of time speaking about animals, but completely overlook the possibilities of speaking with animals, of learning with and from them, and of discovering their perspectives as unique individuals. However, by tuning into the nuances of another’s performance, through the reflexive inquiry of performance-based research, interspecies understandings can be found, challenging the dominant human-centric perspective of the world, and opening up new realms of understanding.