Ethics in motion: Radical relationalities in a fractured world

This issue of Performing Ethos: An International Journal of Ethics in Theatre & Performance explores the evolving relationship between performance, ethics and aesthetics through three articles, one conversation and two book reviews that examine how ethos shapes collective experience, artistic processes and social change. VestAndPage presents ‘performance opera’, a hybrid, site-responsive form rooted in co-creation and shared vulnerability. Jörg Sternagel explores ‘queer furnishing’, revealing how everyday objects serve as performative agents that challenge normative structures through material engagement. Peggy Phelan reflects on Cristina Caprioli’s choreography, suggesting that dance is an embodied ethical negotiation that fosters intersubjective connection. A dialogue between Andrea Pagnes and Amelia Jones examines the political urgency of performance art in addressing identity politics, extremism, neo-liberalism and authoritarianism – highlighting its role in resistance and collective care. Two book reviews further the discussion: Fintan Walsh’s Performing Grief in Pandemic Theatres analyses theatre as a medium for collective mourning and distant intimacy, while Sydney Stutterheim’s Artist, Audience, Accomplice: Ethics and Authorship in the Art of the 1970s and 1980s re-evaluates authorship and complicity in radical collaborative art practices. These contributions emphasize performance as an interdependent, affective process grounded in ethical relationality. This issue encourages reflection on how performance transforms our relationships with bodies, objects and communities – providing transformative ways of thinking, creating and living together in a fractured world.