Dr Cat Fergusson Baugh

Dr Cat Fergusson-Baugh

Lecturer / Director of Drama

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Arts Cultures and Education
  • School of The Arts

Qualifications

  • BA (Goldsmiths, University of London)
  • PhD / DPhil (University of Hull)

Summary

Hi, I am Cat (she/her/they) and I have been at the University since 2007 having previously held posts at the universities of Kent and Warwick, and I have worked in areas of computer visualisation since 1995 and would broadly characterise myself as a digital researcher and practitioner. The significance of my early focus in the development of reconstructive visualisation for theatre history has been recognised through consultancy and contributions to Channel 4's Lost Buildings series, THEATRON (a virtual theatre resource), and to exhibitions of the work of Edward Gordon Craig and Phillip Loutherbourg for the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

My work on illustrative visualisation prompted a detailed exploration of the methodological impact of reconstructive practice for the theatre historian, which has produced projects and publications exploring the historical development of theatrical form at the site of Drury Lane Theatre and and the work of Vlastislav Hofman (exhibited at the Columbus Museum of Art).

Since coming to Hull, I have developed the area of digital performance, first as a taught specialism and now as a growing area of postgraduate research activity. My practice in the emerging area of XR performance includes contributions to Surfaces of Understanding (Oculus installation) and the production Fellow Prisoners (binaural audio walk).

My expertise in the practice and theory of audio and digital performance has been internationally recognised through the convenorship and moderation of panel discussions in these areas at the 14th and 15th editions of the Prague Quadrennial.

My teaching currently explores modes of performance that may be shaped by the intervention of digital technologies. Digital and interactive performance, environmental and site specific performance and modes of performance that explore the opportunities offered by modes of gaming.

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

Being There - XR Performance at PQ23

Fergusson-Baugh, C. (2024). Being There - XR Performance at PQ23. Theatre and performance design, 10(1-2), https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2024.2343602

Notes and Queries... That Wren Drawing

Fergusson-Baugh, C. (2021). Notes and Queries... That Wren Drawing. Theatre and performance design, 21(1-2), 24-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.1935625

Visualising Process- Hofman's 1926 Hamlet

Fergusson Baugh, C. (2018). Visualising Process- Hofman’s 1926 Hamlet. Theatralia, 21(2), 15-28. https://doi.org/10.5817/TY2018-2-2

Haptic insights: model making as historical methodology

Baugh, C. F. (2018). Haptic insights: model making as historical methodology. Theatre and performance design, 4(1-2), 83-100. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2018.1464843

Thesis

Haptic Insights: Embodied Understanding in Digital Reconstruction

Fergusson-Baugh, C. (2019). Haptic Insights: Embodied Understanding in Digital Reconstruction. (Thesis). University of Hull. https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4922037

Research interests

My research explores the ways in which digital technologies offer extended and alternative approaches to the study and development of live performance events. From the methodological impact of visual reconstruction technologies on visual histories to the development 'simultaneous' realities (through developed sound design or augmentation), new technologies offer us different ways of seeing and opportunities to explore counter-normative proposals and voices.

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

NERC Discipline Hopping: Listening to the Grid

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£5,918.00

Started

1 March 2022

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

I am happy to discuss applications in digital performance, scenography, theatre architecture, computer visualisation, sound performance and XR performance.

Current PhD supervision

Ed Grimoldby “Dance of the Necromancer - Affective Ontological Engagements with Pre-rendered Intermedia Scenographic Spaces” (first supervisor)

Sam Kite "Sound Design for Modern Theatre and Media Spaces - Ambisonics in a modern digital space." (first supervisor)

Russel Gilbert “Fighting Figures: Professional Wrestling, Kayfabe, and the Creation of New Realities” (co-supervisor)

Thandie Hlabana “Gendered Water: Women and Water Crises in Southern Africa” (co-supervisor)

Completed PGR

Ed Grimoldby “From alchemy to Artaudian 'digital double' : a practical exploration in digital scenography” (MA Res)

John Fairless” Through the use of Computer Agents, can Theatre maintain its status as a Live Art Form, in the Digital Era” (MA Res)

Liam Watt Pattison “Hypertheatre:Non-Linear Interactive Narratives And How To Actualise Them Through Live Performance” (MA Res)

Eva Danickova “Theatre Translation through Collaboration: Dramaturgical Approaches to Translations of Plays Poker Face and From the Dust of Stars in Dramatic Space “ (PhD – co-supervisor)

Committee/Steering group role

Steering Group, DRHA 2006 (Dartington)

2006 - 2006

Digital Resources for the Humanities and Arts September 2006 (Dartington) - member of programme team.

Interest Group, London Charter

2001 - 2015

Member of Interest Group. Establishing protocols for computer modelling as research output.

Conference organisation

PQ23 Arts and Digital Talks

2023 - 2023

Moderation of panels associated with XR performance at the international performance exhibition Prague Quadrennial 23

PQ19 - Scenography of Sound

2019 - 2019

Convened PQ19 (Prage Quadrennial) panel on Scenography of Sound. International public/Industry engagment event.

Conference presentation

Conference presentation, Vlastislav Hoffman's 1926 "Hamlet". Czech and Slovak Scenography for Shakespeare. University of Ohio.

2017 - 2017

Czech and Slovak Scenography for Shakespeare. University of Ohio (Columbus), 2017.

Conference presentation, Reconstructing Hellerau, at "Past Masters" (Centre for Pereformance Research, Aberystwith University, 2003).

2003 - 2003

Presented at "Past Masters" (Centre for Pereformance Research, Aberystwith University, 2003) Analysis and mixed media/computer reconstructions of Appia’s work at Hellerau, with Prof. Richard Beacham, University of Warwick.

Consultancy/Industry advisory role

Consultant, Lost Buildings, Channel 4, 2004.

2004 - 2004

Contributions to Lost Buildings, series (Episodes on Drury Lane Theatre and Westminster Palace) Channel 4, 2004.

Consultant, The Jade Fair, Community Plays Archive and Database (CPAD) 1999.

1999 - 1999

The Jade Fair. Community Plays Archive and Database (CPAD) - Project Consultant. Creation of a CD ROM as an interactive introduction to the archive and database. Examination into the ways in which the computer can be used to record/archive the act of live performance. Funded by Society of Theatre Research/National Heritage.

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