Tessa Vannieuwenhuyze is a researcher affiliated with S:PAM (Studies in Performing Arts and Media) at Ghent University, Belgium. Her doctoral dissertation project Staging the Musical Self(ie). Persona across Popular Music and Contemporary Performing Arts renegotiated the concept of persona across popular music and contemporary performing arts through the methodological lens of fandom. She currently threads this research trajectory into an exploration of how pop music (concert) practices permeate into contemporary performance contexts. Her wider research interests, encompassing media fandom and autotheoretical approaches, often converge with her ongoing engagement with the music performer’s presence on contemporary performance stages alongside new media.
As a dramaturge, Tessa has been charting her practice through her collaboration with oester, a music-based transdisciplinary platform for encounters across sound, performance, and visual arts. She also serves as an editor for Documenta, Tijdschrift voor Theater and sits on the editorial board of Etcetera, to which she occasionally contributes theatre reviews.
