Re Re Re: The Originality of Performance and Other (Post)Modernist Myths (original) (raw)

On the ‘State’ Of Performance Art and What It Is

To look at Performance art privileging an anthropoetic approach means also to focus on what is the actual evidence contained in the term ‘performance art’. Instead of hazarding poignant definitions that, thus seductive, as a pure product of the mind, in many cases they end to be just sentences and definitions per se, to continue considering this practice ‘open’ as much as possible, as all art ought to be, is what counts the most. As a matter of fact, definitions are always perilous somehow, as they may confine and devaluate in a square grid a practice (here specifically the practice of Performance art), which instead is in constant evolution and permutation, often enigmatic, which today is clearly contaminated by interdisciplinary modes, multiplicity of strategies, tactics, and a large variety of techniques.

Regenerating the Live: The Archive as the Genesis of a Performance Practice

and practitioners in the 1990s, a time that Fischer-Lichte tells us "saw a renewed debate about the particular medial conditions of theatre performances, especially in the United States" (2008, p.67). As a method of "resistance" against the "dominant culture of [the] media economy" (Fischer-Lichte, 2008, p.68), 'disappearance' foregrounds the performer's and spectator's physical 'presence' as the benchmark for determining if an event is live or recorded. ! Questions concerning presence were a major concern for performance practitioners who worked in the 1960s and 1970s (Auslander, 1994, p.36). Notable among these were the Living Theatre, the Performance Group, the Open Theatre, Jerzy Grotowski and the Theatre Laboratory, and Peter Brook. These were practitioners who, broadly speaking, defined acting in terms of self-revelation rather than as a process of textual, cognitive-based interpretation. Given the accelerating ubiquity of technology in society during the mid-twentieth century, live performance was thought to offer a pure, or to use Peter Brook's term "holy" (1968) ! ! ∀∋! ! ! ∀(! ! ! ∀)! invites future generations of researchers and practitioners to constantly re-interpret them. This process generates new forms of knowledge pertaining to the originary performance over time. Baz Kershaw embraces the performing arts archive's fragmented condition for scholarship by asking "how might the chief lacunae of performance research as a scholarly and creative endeavour become its greatest strengths?" (2009, p.26). Joanna Lindsay explored this theme in her paper Performing Documents: Performances of Potential (2013) where she postulated archives might be read as a repository of "unrealised potentials" that can be ordered into a live performance (2013 [unpublished]). ! Although the examples I cite above evidence a mode of practice that treat archival documents as the catalysts of live performances, the artists I mention all used material that had been generated from their own work. True, Jog Shuttler and Do the Wild Thing! (Redux) demonstrate how archival documents can be treated as generative material of live art works, yet the pieces fail to fully capitalise upon the potential for audience participation that I argue is the most important aspect of the paradigm shift. In the context of the archive, participation can be understood as the researcher's subjective interpretation of archival documents because as Gale and Featherstone state to participate in the archive is to "examine multiple truths" and immersive oneself in the "networks of connective materials" (2011, p.37). In short, by interpreting the past(s) in archives researchers participate in the formation of history. Documentation can engender a type of audience participation that is analogous to the researcher's process in the archive. This is different from the type of participation that is used by theatre companies such as Punchdrunk 4 and ZU-UK 5 where participants interact with performers; the archival mode of participation I describe here involves interacting with sites using documentation strategies in order to create multiple, non-unified and non-authoritarian imaginaries of future cityscapes. The specifics and functions of

The bond between live art actions and a deeply mediatised society (p.30-33)

Intersections, 2020

This essay takes as its anchor my third research project Sky-field as an example of mediatised live art action. I would like to argue that the division between mediatised and live experience cannot be affronted in base of the deployment of the medium as such. Mediatisation is a relatively new term that refers to the deployment of media with technological timbre into live experience. In order to support my position, I will make a brief excursus on concepts around performativity with reference to P. Auslander, P. Zarilli and W. Benjamin among others. The aim is to unravel and offer a map of the debate around the issue of mediatisation and liveness.

Performative Art: The Politics of Doubleness

Leonardo, 2009

Transactions publishes short refereed papers. It provides a fast track to publishing key new results, ideas and developments in practice. This format is particularly valuable to young researchers and, in particular, Ph.D. students in the later part of their studies. Practicing artists are encouraged to report on new work and new concepts through Transactions. Papers are solicited matching the stated aims and scope of Leonardo, but restricted to two pages of published material. A fast referee process is employed in which the result is restricted to "accept" or "reject." The announcement of results or developments in a Transactions paper will not exclude that work from subsequent publication in a full Leonardo paper. However, any such submission will be considered by Leonardo in the normal way, as a new paper. Papers should be submitted electronically in final camera ready form at <http:// www.leonardo-transactions.com>, where formatting instructions and a template may be found. MIT Press is now able to include authors' multi-media files linked to published Leonardo articles. As with other sections of Leonardo, from now on, once a paper has been accepted in Transactions, authors will be offered the opportunity to provide such supplementary material. Associated with Transactions is an open electronic database of new work, Research Announcements. This will be a moderated web site that makes submitted Transactions papers available, with the author's agreement, from the date of receipt by the editor. Other announcements of research results and new practice may also be included. Transactions makes calls for papers in specific areas. These announcements are not exclusive, so no relevant topic will be excluded if the submission is of sufficient quality. The current call is for contributions that address one of the following two areas: • The use of scientific evaluation methods within art practice. • Artists' reports on their recent work that include reflection on practice.