Delivery Date: 16.09.2019 | lecturer: Dr. Pavlos Kontouriotis
“Performance must be constructed as a ‘broad spectrum’ or ‘continuum’ of human action” – Richard Schechner
Biology —> need to stay alive —> if I stand out —> danger
challenge: be able to transgress and stay alive
About pain: it is cultural. Our interpretations of the signals sent to our brains by the nervous system are culturaly constructed
biology / nature / bodies
Human bodies are socially constructed
The body is the receiver of all the information
Foucault —–> disciplinarian authority: industrialization —–> modernity —–> discovery of the body as useful object
The body is only useful if it becomes productive —-> aim of disciplinarian authority
assujetissemant: subjetification (become subject, able to live within a specific system) <——> subjugated
The more skills you aquire to live in a specific culture, the more you are subjugated by disciplinarian authority. Paradox: the more the body is trained, the more able it is to live in society, the more power it has and, simultaneously, the less power it has. This process happens without violence.
“Discipline and Punish” – Foucault (Panopticon)
Understanding the body as a machine —–> from the 16th century “anatometaphisical” understanding of the body —-> it it is a machine, it can be used
Behind the institutions there are the technicians — technical matters are also political matters
The need for methods for training the body to become productive. Methods to control “the machine” —– if it is trained, it can be perfected and become docile, obedient, and therefore useful.
explicit example: the small shoes that shape women’s feet in Asia
micropolitics – control small areas of the body
The disciplinarian authority does not belong to a specific institution.
Zizek —-> “The Big Other” — it can never be grasped
Body in Performance: “what does the body do?” (both performer and audience)
representation / non representation
works seen and discussed:
“The Origin of the World” (2014) by Deborah de Roberts – the performer displays her vulva in front of 1866 Courbet’s painting in the museum. Guerrilla performance. The audience is bonding with the performer against authority.
The remake of the scene of the falling wall byt Burt Lancaster. The remake is by Steve Mac Queen and it presents a black body.
