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What do famous 20th century thinkers like Hannah Arendt, Guy Debord and Henri Lefebvre have to offer for a critical performance analysis today? Charlotte Gruber has taken a fresh look at their writings with respect to this question. In InterActions she applies her findings to the analysis of more than 12 contemporary artworks from different fields. In doing so she tackles two dominant developments in the Performing Arts: The ongoing trend to actively engage performance-participants in the performance process, and the tendency to leave common theatre buildings for innovative venues. Assisted by recent approaches from Media Studies, she scrutinizes the employment of new networking media. Her study reveals: Not only the Performing Arts but also other fields of art (Streetart, Visual Arts etc.) have to be considered for their performative potential and their extensive socio-political range. Gruber questions the term Site-Specific Art for its insufficiency to articulate this potential, which she sees in the creation, reinvention and reappropriation of public spaces. This thesis was awarded the TIN Theaterscriptieprijs 2012 by the Theater Institute of the Netherlands.
List of contents
PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT LIST OF FIGURES 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Revolution Now! The Ongoing Trend to Go Out 1.2 Main Aim, Defnition and Hypothesis 1.3 Outlook 2 THEORIZING PERFORMED SPACES: PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Performance and Space 2.2 Interaction and Inter-est 2.3 Alienation: A Loss of Space and Inter-est 3 ANALYZING PERFORMED SPACES: EXAMPLES FROM PERFORMANCE PRACTICE 3.1 Performing Actual Spaces 3.1.1 Reality and Documentary Performances 3.1.2 Physical Theatre and Modern Mime 3.1.3 Experiment Performance 3.2 Performing Virtual Spaces 3.2.1 Web Site Performances 3.2.2 Movement Tracking Performances 3.2.3 Communication Media Performances 4 CONCLUSION AND COMPARISON BIBLIOGRAPHY ADDITIONAL NOTE
About the author
Kati Röttger (Prof. Dr. phil.) lehrt Theaterwissenschaft an der Universität von Amsterdam. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Theater als Medium des Sehens, Politik des Bildes, postkoloniales Theater und Theatergeschichte.
Katharina Pewny (Prof. Dr. phil.) ist Professorin für Performance Studies an der Universität Gent und Direktorin des Forschungszentrums "S:PAM. Studies in Performing Arts and Media". Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Ethik und Ästhetik des antiken Theaters und des Gegenwartstheaters, relationale Dramaturgien, Performance und Neue Medien.
Report
The jury has been impressed by the independent thinking with which the author develops the theoretical concept of 'performing a space (actual and virtual)' and a 'stage of interest' [ ] Charlotte Gruber has delivered a lucidly written, readable argument. She is consistent and precise and, above all, thoroughly self-critical. Cecile Brommer (Juryreport TIN Theaterscriptieprijs)
