1st Edition

Embodiment and Disembodiment in Live Art From Grotowski to Hologram

By Ke Shi Copyright 2020
    236 Pages 34 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    236 Pages 34 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Liveness is a pivotal issue for performance theorists and artists. As live art covers both embodiment and disembodiment, many scholars have emphasized the former and interpreted the latter as the opposite side of liveness. In this book, the author demonstrates that disembodiment is also an inextricable part of liveness and presence in performance from both practical and theoretical perspectives.



       By applying phenomenological theory to live performance, the author investigates the possible realisation of aesthetic dynamics in live art via re-engagement with the notions of embodiment, especially in the sense provided by philosophers such as Gabriel Marcel and Morris Merleau-Ponty. Creative practices from leading performance artists such as Franko B, Ron Athey, Manuel Vason and others, as well as experimental ensembles such as Goat Island, La Pocha Nostra, Forced Entertainment and the New Youth are discussed, offering a new perspective to re-frame human-human relationships such as the one between actor and spectator and collaborations in live genres



       In addition, the author presents a new interpretation model for the human-material in live genres, helping to bridge the aesthetic gaps between performance art and experimental theatre and providing an ecological paradigm for performance art, experimental theatre and live art.

    List of figures.  Introduction  Chapter 1 Embodiment: Self and Subjectivity  Chapter 2 Actualisation, Contingency and Journey to the Unknown  Chapter 3 Landscape as the Lifeworld  Chapter 4 Disembodiment in Materiality  Chapter 5 Disembodiment in its Semiotic Sense  Chapter 6 Two Extremes of Disembodiment: Cyborgs and Holograms  References.  Index

    Biography

    Shi Ke, poet, theatre and performance maker. He is the Associate Artist at Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol and Guest Professor at Nanjing University. His research interests include contemporary performance, experimental theatre and transcultural practice.