1st Edition

Dynamic Cartography Body, Architecture, and Performative Space

    182 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    182 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Dynamic Cartography analyses the works of Rudolf Laban, Lawrence Halprin, Anne Bogart, Adolphe Appia, Cedric Price, Joan Littlewood, and Hélio Oiticica. They are practitioners who have worked on different areas of enquiry from the existing relations between body and space through movement, events, or actions but whose work has never been presented from this perspective or in this context. The work and methodologies set up by these practitioners enable us to develop a practice-based exploration. Some of the experiments in the book – Micro-actions I and II – explore the presence of the body in the space. In Kinetography I and II, Laban’s dance notation system – kinetography – is used to create these dynamic cartographies. Kinetography III proposes the analysis of an urban public space through the transcription of the body movement contained on it. The series Dynamic Cartographies I, II, and III analyses movement in geometrically controlled spaces through the Viewpoints techniques by Anne Bogart. Finally, Wooosh! and Trellick Tales present two projects in which performance is applied in order to analyse and understand urban and architectural space.

    Contents

    List of illustrations

    Acknowledgements

    Introduction

    Chapter 1: Body and the surrounding space: scoring body movement

    Introduction: spatial body rituals

    The representation of movement

    Rudolf Laban: Kinetography as a spatial scoring system

    Scores: the representation of processes

    Scoring: mapping spatial processes

    Experiments
    Kinetography I: movement notation for one body
    Kinetography II: movement scores on stage
    Kinetography III: movement scores in complex environments

    From surrounding space to geometry

    Chapter 2: Body and Geometry: Contemporary Rituals

    Introduction: performativity and ritual

    Body, space, and geometry

    The Laboratory of Movement Study – L.E.M. (Le Laboratoire d’Estude du Mouvement)

    Viewpoints: a spatial composition tool

    Experiments
    Dynamic Cartography I, II, and III

    From geometry to the scenic space

    Chapter 3: Body and Scenic Space: Ritual Spaces

    Introduction: the origins of space

    Reflections on space

    The Work of Living Art: radical proposals for the mise- en- scène of Wagnerian drama

    The body in the theatrical space: the Greek theatre

    Atmospheres

    Experiments
    Micro-actions in Greece
    Strings
    , Old Vinegar Factory (2015, Limassol, Cyprus)

    From scenic space to architectural programme

    Chapter 4: Body and Architecture: Spatial Dramaturgies

    Introduction: the architectural script

    Once upon a time, a laboratory of fun

    Event and situation

    The art of action

    Performative architecture

    Breaking the architectural fourth wall

    Experiments
    Wooosh! (Winchester, 2016)

    From programme to landscape

    Chapter 5: Body and Landscape: Performativity and Social Space

    Introduction: urban anthropophagy

    The representation of landscape

    Corpografias (corpographies) and corpocidade (corpocity)

    The body as a means of artistic expression

    Environmental art and Thirdspace

    Experiment
    Trellick Tales: the Thirdspace of Trellick Tower

    From landscape to the surrounding space

    Conclusions: towards the creation of a dynamic cartography – an interdisciplinary methodology

    Biography

    María José Martínez Sánchez is a lecturer the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design (BCU), UK, and a researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Performing Arts at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, UK. Her work has been published in international journals and presented at the Dance Biennale of Venice, the Biennale of Architecture in Venice, the Spanish National Theatre (CDN), and the Prague Quadrennial of Scenography.