Dealing with the Ghost: Phantasmagorical Apparitions of Bertolt Brecht (original) (raw)
Related papers
Body As Medium. Between Theory and Technology of Theater
archée revue d'art en ligne : arts médiatiques & cyberculture, 2018
We present the theoretical approach to the problems of body and technology in stage performance. The starting point is the status of the categories such as presence, ephemerality, immediacy of the (theatre) performance radically undermined in the texts of performance studies scholars such as Rebecca Schneider, Amelia Jones or Philip Auslander. Utilizing examples of performances from young Polish theatre: Krzysztof Garbaczewski (b.1983) and Radosław Rychcik (b.1981), we juxtapose two functioning models of body-technology relation on stage. The first one – represented by Garbaczewski – is based on understanding the body as always mediated. It multiplies (undermines) the body’s presence by use of audiovisual means. The second one – Rychcik’s case – is to push the theatrical presence of the body to the absolute maximum. In this case an audiovisual layer is used to build a strong opposition to the actor’s stage presence. The two examples are used to propose new theoretical approaches. We would like to show that such stage phenomena are not only the sign of a changing technological reality, but are also important theoretical input in the understanding of theatre itself. We posit that every single body on stage (no matter if consciously, as in Garbaczewski’s case, or unconsciously, as in Rychcik’s case) is already mediated, and the use of technological tools is a way to play with this specific aspect of theatre’s corporeality. This broader perspective also incorporate elements of the political dimension of annexing media-mediated and media-manipulated corporeality, for it follow the apparently transparent and natural dimension of such actions, whereby once again, as postulated by Jacques Rancière it turn aesthetic considerations into political considerations.
Body as Medium. Between Theory and Technology of Theatre
Our speech will present the theoretical approach to the problems of body and technology in stage performance. The starting point will be status of the categories such as presence, ephemerality, immediacy of the (theatre) performance radically undermined in the texts of performance studies scholars such as Rebecca Schneider, Amelia Jones or Philip Auslander. Utilizing examples of performances from young Polish theatre: Krzysztof Garbaczewski (b.1983) and Radosław Rychcik (b.1981), we would like to juxtapose two of functioning models of body-technology relation on stage. The first one – represented by Garbaczewski – is based on understanding of the body as always mediated. It multiplies (undermines) body’s presence by use of audiovisual means. The second one – Rychcik’s case – is to push the theatrical presence of the body to absolute maximum. In this case audiovisual layer is used to build a strong opposition to the actor’s stage presence. The two examples will be used to propose new theoretical approach. We would like to show that such stage phenomena are not only the sign of the (technological) reality changing but also a very important, theoretical input in the understanding of the theatre as such. We will state that every single body on stage (no matter if consciously like in Garbaczewski’s case, or unconsciously like in the Rychcik’s case) is already mediated and the use of technological tools is a way to play with this specific character of theatre corporeality. This broader perspective will also incorporate elements of the political dimension of annexing media-mediated and media-manipulated corporeality, for it will follow the apparently transparent and natural dimension of such actions, whereby once again it will turn, as postulated by Jacques Rancière, aesthetic considerations into political considerations, which would be the speech final point.
FROM THE PICTORIAL SYMBOLS OF THE THEATRE TO THE VIRTUAL SYMBOLISATION OF THE REAL
The problem of the existence or not of a reality, which outside the dimension of the intelligent subject, that is, the relationship of the subjectivity of conscience and the objectivity of the world, comprises an issue lending itself to a multiplicity of approaches and dimensions such as ontology, gnosology, psychology and metaphysics, neurophysiology and sociology. The questions posed and the answers given appear in philosophical and literary texts, scholarly studies and artistic creations, directly or indirectly linked to notions suck as “utopia” and “science fiction”, “temporality” and “reality”, “futurity” and “metaphysics”.
Performing phenomenology: Negotiating presence in intermedial theatre
Foundations of Science, 2011
This paper analyzes from a pragmatic postphenomenological point of view the performative practice of CREW, a multi-disciplinary team of artists and researchers. It is our argument that this company, in its use of new immersive technologies in the context of a live stage, gives rise to a dialectics between an embodied and a disembodied perspective towards the perceived world. We will focus on W (Double U), a collaborative interactive performance, where immersive technology is used for live exchange of vision. By means of a head mounted omni-directional camera and display the fields of vision of two participants are swapped, which enables the participants to perceive the world through another person's point of view. This intermedial experience brings a classic dichotomic perception of space to falter: material reality as a 'live' condition can no longer be opposed to a virtual mediated reality. In the shifting moment between the embodied and the perceived world, on the fracture between what one sees and what one feels, the distinction between live and mediated is blurred, moreover, can no longer be made. The perception of the body is pushed to the extreme, causing a most confusing corporal awareness, a condition that intensifies the experience and causes an altered sense of presence. In a dynamic cognitive negotiation, one tends, however, to unify the divergent ontologies of the 'real' and the 'virtual' to a meaningful experience. In this respect, we refer to recent neurological experiments such as the 'rubber hand illusion' in order to clarify the spectator's tendency to fuse both ontologies and to embody a coherent image-world.
Ekphrasis, 2010
From the earliest forms of artistic expression and from the first philosophical debates, the relationship between body and its representations was a constant preoccupation for theoretical discussions. Be it the "tomb for the soul", as it was for Plato, a mechanism governed by Reason and obeying the rules of the Reason, as it was for Descartes, or, as in the case of the phenomenology of the body, who equates the body with a mirror of the surrounding world, the Western intellectual world has debated the relationship between body and the reality of the world, or between the bodily existence of the world and the (un)Real. One fundamental question that derives from this debate is that of the relationship between humans and non-human beings (mechanical, artificial or imagined) in cinema. Using the correlation from Čapek's work, who is the "slave" and who is the "master" in this relationship between the represented and the representation, and how does this centuries old debate can be transformed into cinematic art and the theory of cinema? The fundamental question becomes, in terms of cinema theory, what is "real" and what is "illusion" in movies? In this article the basis for interpretation are three movies considered to be selfreflexive and directly addressing the nature of cinema: Solaris by Andrey Tarkovsky, Artificial Intelligence by Steven Spielberg, and Surrogates, by Jonathan Mostow.
New Materialist Spectatorship: The Moving-Image-Body, the Mockumentary and a New Image of Thought
In this article I propose to rethink spectatorship as analytic category within cinema studies. Through an engagement with new materialist theory I shift the conversation from the locked positions of spectator and text towards an acknowledgement of the spectatorial event as a becoming increased or decreased in capacity to affect and be affected. By doing so I argue that what is effectuated in the event of spectating is in fact the production of a certain body, what I call a moving-image-body. This, I claim, develops in connection with different so- called spectatorial contracts, contracts that produce different agential conditions. An examination of some examples from the realm of the mockumentary, notably I’m Still Here (Affleck, 2010), leads me to discuss the core of the issue as one pertaining to the potential production of new realities, and my methodological proposal as a way towards mapping, not what the event of spectating means, but rather what it does.
Critical Techno-dramaturgy: Mobilizing Embodied Perception in Intermedial Performance
2016
This dissertation attends to the ways in which the deployment of technological devices in twentyfirst-century intermedial performance might influence the audience members' perception of the relationship between humans and technology. Drawing upon the work of scholars in the fields of new media, performance studies, and the philosophy of technology, I argue that intermedial performance artists reinvigorate the role of the human body in performance by mobilizing embodiment as a techno-dramaturgical strategy for shaping the audience members' perception of human-machine interaction. Chapter One surveys the history of performance and technology from the ancient Greek theatre to twentieth-century performance, with particular emphasis on the conceptual significance of techne and poiesis in dramatic theatre. Chapter Two examines the theories of intermediality in performance as well as the co-evolutionary relationship between human beings and technicity in order to delineate the analytical and dramaturgical potential of an original conceptual framework known as critical techno-dramaturgy. Chapter Three explores the interplay between embodiment, technology, and space in intermedial performance and its effects on the audience members' awareness of their embodied existence as they navigate the cityscape with bicycles, handheld computers, and mobile phones. Chapter Four investigates the intersection of performance and techno-anxiety by looking at how intelligent machines that appear to perform autonomously might affect the audience members' perception of these anthropomorphic technological agents in relation to their own bodies. Chapter Five examines how the construction of the "cyborg" as both a conceptual metaphor for and a material instantiation of human-machine "fusion" could impact the prosthetic relations between persons with disabilities and the technological devices that they employ in intermedial performance. Finally, Chapter Six looks at my involvement in the production of an original creative project that uses critical technodramaturgy as a strategy for shaping the audience members' perception of the complicity between digital media (particularly video technology) and the mediation of death. ! "#! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Any major project that takes a few years to complete would require a great deal of dedication and perseverance on the part of the person who is pursuing it. This dissertation is in no way the result of a solitary effort, but that of a collaborative relationship with brilliant mentors who have supported me throughout this intellectual journey. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following individuals and organizations for their assistance and encouragement over the past four years. First, I would like to thank the University of Waterloo's Department of English Language and Literature. It is a privilege to be in the company of an exceptional group of faculty and students who are not afraid to push the boundaries of critical inquiry and knowledge creation in the humanities. I owe a debt of gratitude to Fraser Easton, the previous chair of the department, for supporting my academic pursuits at every step of the way. My gratitude also extends to Aimée Morrison and Randy Harris, who, as graduate chairs, provided much motivation and care for my wellbeing. And many thanks to Julie-Anne Desrochers, Margaret Ulbrick, and Mélanie LaFrance for all the help and assistance that they have offered me through the years. Indeed, this dissertation couldn't have come to fruition without the kindness and generosity of Andy Houston from the Department of Drama and Speech Communications. Andy has been an amazing teacher and friend to me. He had invited me to join the creative team for the production of From Solitary to Solidarity (S2S), and this performance has since become the focus of the final chapter in my dissertation. Although I was an external collaborator on the production, Andy made sure that I felt right at home with the team members during rehearsals. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work with him and his talented team at the Drama department. I am also extremely thankful for the thought-provoking questions and insightful comments that my external examiners, Bruce Barton and Jennifer Roberts-Smith, had raised during the defence. Both have provided me with interesting ideas to think about for any future ! #! project that I may intend to pursue. A special note of thanks goes out to my committee members, Beth Coleman and Jay Dolmage, for their feedback on the chapters of my project. Beth's study of avatars in digital networks and Jay's work on prostheses and the embodied rhetoric of disability have inspired and informed the topics that I have explored in this dissertation. I have been very fortunate to have the both of them on my committee. I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Marcel O'Gorman, who has been a great mentor and a wonderful friend to me. Through his critical approach to the study of media as well as his creative teaching methods, he has introduced me to a fascinating range of ideas espoused by such innovative thinkers as N. Katherine Hayles, Ernest Becker, Bernard Stiegler, and David Wills. As the director of the Critical Media Lab, he has provided a collegial environment for my colleagues and I to work on digital media projects that examine human-machine interaction. Marcel's commitment to his students' development is highly admirable, and I have been a beneficiary of his steady guidance. I can't thank him enough for the valuable feedback and unwavering support that he has offered me throughout the writing process, and I hope to emulate his assiduous dedication to scholarship and teaching in my own career. But this journey wouldn't have taken flight if not for the love and support of my family. Many thanks to my brother, Nigel, for helping me to stay positive and focused as I worked on this project. No matter the time of day, you have always been willing to provide a listening ear. Thanks especially to my parents for encouraging me to do the things for which I have the greatest passion. The both of you have taught me the importance of asking good questions about the world. Through you, I have learned how to dream, and for that, I am forever grateful. And then there is Suzanne, my best friend and life partner. Words can never fully express my appreciation for the love, kindness, and encouragement that you have so generously offered during this process. You have been most patient with me, even when I am busy working away on the computer for hours on end. This entire endeavour wouldn't have been possible without you, and I thank the Almighty for bringing you into my life.
Editorial: Cinema, the Body and Embodiment
Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image, 2012
The third issue of Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image takes up the theme of embodiment and the body, its relationship to Cinema’s history (theory and practice), and its reawakening in a recent body of research which is attentive, not only to film, but also to new media practices. It encompasses the dismantling of one of the foundational theoretical perspectives of film studies for over a century — the metaphor of the disembodied eye — and focuses on a groundbreaking field which as been attempting to integrate the body in conceptual models for understanding art and cinematic spectatorship. It aims to be a contribution to the approaches which have been recently trying to show the fallacy of the distinction between the physical and the mental, focusing on the concept of embodiment taken, either as phenomenological encounter immersed in everyday practices, or as a material and physical process made of fluids, energies and forces. In both cases, the quest for understanding Cinema entails acknowledging its inherent sensuous qualities and recognizing that the intellectual, mental and cognitive activities must be reinterpreted as embodied and carnal. This new understanding of cinema’s spectatorship, which integrates the spectator’s body in the process of his/her emotional and mental encounter with images, has been accompanied by an ongoing development of the moving image’s sensuous and haptic qualities in contemporary world, media practices and artistic scene.
The Metaphor of the Net. Embodiment and Disembodiment in Contemporary Cinema
My aim in this paper is to sketch a picture of how we currently visualize human vs. artificial intelligence. I am going to analyze images depicting the transcendence of the human in recent movies, which I take to be significant for the contemporary conditio humana. I will examine how movies like Her (USA 2013, Spike Jonze) or Transcendence (USA 2014, Wally Pfister) invent and use images of human and artificial life. I will then analyze the images themselves, how they are connected and what underlying ontological assumptions can be found. My main focus will be on the concept of the body and figures of disembodied intelligence. I will argue that disembodied intelligence has become a central topos in contemporary cinema. I will show how these ideas relate to the presentation of technology as a highly complex and dynamic net-structure, comparable to the characteristics of the human brain.
2018
Contributors: Horea Avram (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania), Ulrike Gerhardt (Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany), Sozita Goudouna (New York University, USA Robert Lawrence (University of South Florida, USA), Liviu Malița (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania), Raluca Mocan (Université Paris-Est Créteil, France), Rodica Mocan and Ştefana Răcorean (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Wheaton College, Illinois, USA), Georgina Ruff (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA), Miruna Runcan (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania), Paul Sermon (University of Brighton, UK), Erandy Vergara (McGill University, Montreal, Canada). The book comprises a series of contributions by international scholars and practitioners of different backgrounds researching in the fields of contemporary visual culture and performance studies. This collection addresses the issue of corporeality as a discursive field (that asks for a “poetics”), and the possible ways in which technology affects and is affected by the body in the context of recent artistic and theoretical developments. The common denominator of the chapters in this volume is the focus on the relationship between body and image expressed as the connection between reality and fiction, presence and absence, private and public, physical and virtual. The essays cover a wide range of topics within a framework that integrates and emphasises recent artistic practices and current academic debates in the fields of performance studies, visual studies, new aesthetics, perception theories, phenomenology, and media theory. The book addresses these recent trends by articulating issues such as: the relationship between immediate experience and mediated image; performing the image; body as fictional territory; performative idioms and technological expression; corporeality, presence and memory; interactivity as a catalyst for multimediality and remediation; visuality, performativity and expanded spectatorship; the tensions between public space and intimacy in (social) media environments. The main strength of this volume is the fact that it provides the reader a fresh, insightful and transdiciplinary perspective on the body–image complex relationships, an issue widely debated today, especially in the context of global artistic and technological transformations.