fischer-lichte - performance art and ritual
TRANSCRIPT
7/23/2019 Fischer-lichte - Performance Art and Ritual
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/fischer-lichte-performance-art-and-ritual 1/12
9
PE R
FO RM
A
NCE A RT
ANO
R I
TUAL
Bodies in per
fo
rmance
Erik Fischer-Li
ch
te
SPLlln:: I l Imlre Researc ¡ IlIlernal/olla/ 22( 1) ( 19 ')7): 22 37.
1.
Discovcring performath'ity
DlIring the
summer
school at Black
Mountain
College
in
1952
,
an
' untitl ed
cvent
' too k place, initiated by John
Cagc. The
participan ts induded ,
besid
es
Cage, the pianist David
Tudor,
the composer Jay Watts
,
the painter
Ro ber
t
Rauschenberg, the dancer Merce Cunningham and the poets M ary Caroline
Richards and Charles
Olsen. Preparations
for the 'event' were minima!. Eac
h
performer
was
given a 'score'
which consisted
purely
01' 'ti
me brackets' to
indicate
moments
of action
,
inaction ami
silence that
each
performer
wa
s
cxpected
to
fil!.
Thus,
it
was guara
nteed
that there would
be
no causal
re la
tionship between the different actions and
'anything
that
happened arter
that
,
happened in
the
observer himself' .1
The
audience \Vas gathered
from
other
participanls at the
summer
school
,
members of the
college
staff
a
nd
thei r
ramilies,
ami people from
the
sUlTounding
countryside.
The
seats
fo r
the
spectators \Vere
set out
in
the dinin
g hall
ofthe
college in
rront 01'
eaeh
\Vall in
the
form 01' four
triangles,
wh ose
lips
pointed to the
centre
01' the room without
touching each other.
Thus, a
large
free
space
was
created
in
the centre
ol'
the room
in
which, as
it
happened,
very little
actio
n
took
place
.
Spacious
ais les
between the triangles eros
sed
the
room di agon
ally. A
white cup was placed on each
seat.
The spectators did
n
ot
receive
any
explanation: some
used
the
cup:.;
as ashtrays.
From
the
ceiling
were
hung
paintings
by
Rohert Rauschenberg
- h is
'wh
ite
paintings
' .
( \ lge, in a hlack
suit ami
ti e. s
loo
d o n a s
tep
lad ucr
ami read
a
text
0.11
't h
e
rclati
on
or
mus
i
<.:
lO
/ cn B
udd hÍlnTl
'
an
d ex<.:erpls
I"ro
m M
astcr
Ed
ll
a rt. La
ter
hl pcrf Mm
cd
a
'c nrnpos
itio n
wit
h a
raJio
'.
I\
t
tl
le
s:lIm: time
, Ra
llschenh
c
rg
p la ycd llld r
ccnn
ls 011 a wiml-
up
gral1l ophollC wlll l
11
II I lI
lI pcl
whi le a Ii st
cning
'"''
,
t ,. I HU
..
I 1
N ( ,
· ¡\ R 1 ¡ N 1 I( I I
U ¡\
I
d
ng.
sal
hrsld
c il.
alld
Duv id
TlIu
or
pl
ayc
d a
'p
rc pa red
piano'
.
\
littlc la Le r,
TwJor
~ l a to pom wat
er rroll1
onc
bu
cket into
ano l
her,
while
Olse
n
and
Richards rrom their poetry, eithcr amongst the spectators, or standing
11 a
ladd
cr
leaning against
one
01' the
walls. Cunningham
and others danceJ
I IIrollgh the aisles chased hy the dog \Vho, in the me a
ntime,
had turneJ
maJ
.
2
Rallschcnberg projected
abstract
sliJes (created by coloured
gela
tin
e
sand
wiched hetween the glass) and c1ips ol' film onto
the
paintings on the ceiling;
the
film dips
showed
tirst
the school
cook, and
then
,
as they
graJually
moved
rmm the ceiling do\Vn
the
\Valls, the setting sun. Ja y Wa tt sat in a comer an d
played different instruments
.
At the end ofthe performance four
boys,
dre
ssed
in
white, serveJ cofree into lhe cups, regardless
01'
whether the spectators
h
ad
lIsed
them as
ashtrays
or not.
There
ca
n be no
Jouht
tha t the ' untitled eve nt' is to be regardeJ as a
I'cmarkable event
in
the theatre
hist
ory 01' Western culture
,
as
lTlueh
of the
relationship created between performe rs
anJ
spectators, as
of
the kinJ 01'
interaetion betwcen
the
differ
e nt
arts.
At first
glance,
it may appear
as
though the spatial arrangement favoured a
rocllsing
ofthe centre.
During
the
performance ,
however,
it
hecame cI
ear
that
such central focus
did
not exist. The
spectators
were able to Jireet
their
at tenli on
lo
different aetions taking place simultaneously, whether
in
diff
e
rent
parts
01'
the
ro o
m,
or joining ami overlapping. Moreover,
they
were in
such
a
posi
lion
lhat wherever they
loo
ked
, they
always saw
other
spectators involved
in
the act
of
perceiving. In o
ther words, the action
s were
not
to
be
perc
eiv
ed
in
isolation from each
othe r,
nor were they unrclated to the
o
ther
percei v
ing
spectators,
de
s
pite the
f<I
Ct
that
they were
n
ot causally
related to eac h
ot
her,
and
the perspective on other
spe<.:tators
was not determined or controlled.
On the other hand
,
by placing
a
cup on each seat
,
one element was intro
duceJ that challengeJ the spectators
to
ae!
without ,
however, prcscrihing
how . They could pi<.:k it
up
, handle it, put it on the Aoor, throw it to another
spcctator. hide
it in
their bags,
use it
as an ashtray.
Whatever
the case
,
th
e cup
challengeJ the spectators to act at the beginning
ofthe
performance as well
as
at
the
end
(after the boys
had
poureJ lhe
cofree) without forcin g
them to Jo
anylhing in particular.
In
the performance,
difl'erent
ar
ts
were involved
:
music,
painting, film ,
dance, poetry. They were n
ot
united into a
Wa
gn
er
ian GesamtkuIlS/lw rk
rather,
it seems
that their unrelated
coexistence dosely approximated Wa gn
er's
lIightmare,
'oL
ro
l' example,
a
reaJing
of
a
Goethe
novel
and
the
performance
or
a
Bcethoven
symphony
takin
g
place
in an
art
gallery amongst
various
statues',\ nor
was
thcir use motivated , causeJ or justified by
él
common
goal
111
f"ullction;
they wer
e only eo-ordinated
by the
'
time
brackets '. None
the
less.
\"IlITcspond cncc
did occur
in the pa
rticular
sty
le
oftheir
app
c
ar
ance.
They
all
pi ivil
cgcu lh
e pn for mali
vl
IlHlUC: ll
w 11lw
, ic was playcd,
the po etry recit
ed
.
th l, film sllow n , paintin g was p c t f u l l u in
rar
as
Ra u
schenherg
changed
hiN whil L: pai n ti ng.
. hy pn ljcclillp
slhh:s n l l l l
Ihelll,
'
paint
ing
thc l11
over', ami
l i l
7/23/2019 Fischer-lichte - Performance Art and Ritual
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\
1'1
1
1
1110
.\
11
'1
~ N I , ' I )H I-
) R M A
N(
I: A l{ 1
i l l 1 ~ l
is
,d
ways Il'ah /\.'d lIl1 l1\'1 l l1 l 01 movell1ent. Thc 'u Ilion 01" lh\.' arts
·.
1
111:
I l a l l . s ~ i l 1 l .
ll
lh
l:
honJ
l:
ls 0 1' lhe dissolution
ofthe
bordcr
lin
C i separal
III ;- lile a rl
1111111
allolher. was accomplished here because all were ~ t 1 in
a perrorJllalivc lIloJ
e,
nllls lhe perforll1ative function was foregrounded, eithcr
hy raJically rcducing lhe rercrenlial function (for instance , in the unre1atedness
01'
lhc acliolls. which could not be connecteJ into a story or a IlleaningrllI
'sYllIbolic' conflguration;
or
by the refusal to give the 'unti tled event a title),
or
by
elllphalically stressing the performative function (for in stance, by the
arrangell1ent of actiolls 01 by the emphasis put on l
he
fact that it was an
'lIntitled erent .)
' 'hus. one can conduJe that the historical relevance of the 'untitled event'
is
l'ounded on its diseovery
of
the perfonnati
ve.
That
is
not to say that Euro
pC<ln culture has not been performative before the 1950s. Quite the cont
rary
:
¡,toing back through the l:enturies
we
find that from the MiJJIl: Ages to rhe
l'nd 01' the eighteenth l:entury, European culture can most adeq uately be
lkscribeJ
as a predominantly perforlllative culture. Even
in
the eighteenlh
l'l'nlury. when alphabetization and litemcy grew among the Illiddle d ass,
ITading \Vas seldom perfoll11ed as a silent act
in
isolation from others, but
rather as reading aloud to others in different kinds of cirdes. Therefo
re
it is
1101 an exaggeration to state
that
European culture, at least unlil the end
of
lhe eighteenth century (and in many areas throughout the nineteenth century,
too) consisted largely 01' different genres of cultural perfoImance.
The term 'cultural performance' was coined by the American anthropolo
gisl Milton Singer.
In
the 1950s Singer used the term to describe ' particular
inslances
01'
cultural organization , for instance, weddings, temple festivals.
rccilatives, plays, dances, musical concerts, and so on'.4 Aceording to Singer,
a culture articulales its self-understanding amI se1f-image in cultural perform
;lIlces which it presents and exposes to its members as
\Vell
as to outsiders.
F
or
lhe outsider, these can conveniently be taken as the most concrete observable
lInits 01' the cultural structure, for each performance has a definitely limiled
lime span. a beginning and end , an organized programme ofactivity, a set 01'
pnrormers. an audience and a place and occasion
of
performance
."
Whereas until the 1950s, él consensus existed among Western scholars thal
culture is produced and Illanifested
in
its artefacts (texts and monuments).
which. aceordingly have been taken as the proper objects
of
study
in
lhe
hUlllanities , Singer drew att ention to the raet
that
culture is
abo
produced anu
IlIanifcstcd in performanees . He established the performative as a const itu l
ive
rllnction orculture and provided another convincing argument
1'01'
the imp
or
l
allce 01' the performative mode in culture .
('ulllln: as a predorninantly material culture, consisting 01' and formcd hy
dllCllJlIl'n
ts ami
1Il
0nUlllents. had beco rne a p n : v < ú l i l J (,;(lIKept in the ll
il
W
lcenlh cenl ury. a ll hough, eVl n then, the
1\0(11 )11
wa s v
ivm
n ll sly all ackcd
;I S.
1
111 insl'lI1cc. hy 1:J'iecl rich Nie lzsc he. Nlln\:
tl
ll ' kss il was l
it is
no
li
llll
whi
d l grl'ully ill
ll
uo lll'cu.
il 11 01
delcrmincd 11 1. d\ \" ¡" P
lIll'l
ll I
H\
I '11I1 v
(\1
1
1
"
1111
1 1
I(
M
¡
N ( ' 1 \
U
1 N
l
IU 1 1I ¡\ 1
1lIl llIall itics, hlll also
01'
olhe ' l'ldllll'al dOlllaills, In IIK'atre.
rol'
example, the
(l
l:
Jl ol'lllaliw
alt
11(11 .
(( ( l / ( / ) ( ( .
the Meininger foregr
ou
nded the Iiterary
In l 01" Ihe drallla. on the one hallll -- which arter many years of adaptation
\Vas
1hen no longcr open to revision- and the preser\lablc elcments of the
pellúrmance such as the set and lhe l:Ostullles, on the other. Culture, aeeord
II I
10
nineteenth-l:entury cOllllllon belief. \Vas manifested by and resulted in
a Ileracts whil:h could be preserved and handed down to the next generation .
It
was against this that avant-gardist 1ll0Velllents
sUl:h
as the futurists ,
dadaists and surrealists direeted their flerl:e attacks, proclaiming the destruc
li¡)n
orthe museums and hailing velocity and ephemerality as the true culture
\'reating torces orthe fllture. In this respect, the Futurist seral e and the Dadaist
\ fI
ir h \ can be seen as 'forerunners' to Cage's 'untitled event'. But while the
lúlllrists and dadaists roeused on the destructive rorces of their performanl:es
ill order to shock the audiences- 'épatcr le bourgeois'--a nd to destroy bour
1'-:
ois l:llltllre, Cage's event emphasized the new possibilities opening IIp not
only for the artists but also for the audiences. The performative mode here
was applied as a means
01'
' Iiberating' the spectators in their al:t of perceiving
ami creating meaning.
In
the 1950s, perrorrnativity was not only reclaimed by the arts. In anthro
pology the notion of cultural performance \Vas recognized, in Iiterary theory
Roland Barthes rocused on the creativity of l écrilure instead of the static text
(as
in
Le Degré zéro de l écrilure, published in 1953) and in philosophy John
1
..
\ustin defined what
he
chose to call ' the speech act'o Austin developed a
philosophy oflanguage, which he presented al the William James Lectures at
Ilarvard University
in 1955
under the title: 'How To Do Things With Words '.
I k put rorward the pioneering,
ir
not revolutionary idea that linguistic
lI1terances do not only serve to describe a procedure 01' to state a faet but con-
1,'IHled that the mere uttering ofthem simultaneously perrorms an aet as, ror
l'xample. the act 01' describing , stating, promising. congratulating, l:ursing, and
so on. What speakers oflanguage llave always known intuitively and pral:tised
accordingly was, for the first time, artielllated in a philosophy of language:
language not only serves a rererential function , but also a performative one.
That whil:h Austin's theory of speeeh al:t accolllplished with regard to the
J..nowledge ol'language, Cage's ' untitled event ' realized for theatre. Suddenly,
Ihat which theatre artists and spectators had known intuitively and practised
rOl ages beca me evident: theatre no only fulfils a rererential function, but a
pnrorlllative one, too. Whereas, at the beginning or the I950s, the Western
dl'alll<ltie theatrc elllphasized the psychological motivation for actions, plot
l'ollstrllction. scellic arrangement s,
but
ignored the pcrformative function of
Ih
catre. thc ' untilled event' foregrounded the performative function, recalling
11 permanent existcnce in
th ca
lre and bringing it back into view.
f .l achil'w lh is , pcrlo rlTla m;c
:111
sel ilscl f in opposition not only to the
l'oll lCmpnrary m I tllurkc t. t
ha
l i
l\
. i:,lcu (In Ihc prod u
l:ti
on 01' objeets, r
;lIll:facIs as C\llllTn o
di
tics, h ll l ¡liso \11 o l \ l e l 1 1 r l l r a r thca lre.
Wh
ercas the
\ I
7/23/2019 Fischer-lichte - Performance Art and Ritual
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y.
I : >
J
\
I \-Ir l
l"1l1l1l:l\1porary
stage IIsually
1>11
.
11
11 : 11
, l I l \ 1 pan:
Willy Lom un s liv ill
1Olllll, ror instance , or lhl: mad whc l
:
I)Id l u
nLl
<. ;ogo arl:
wailing
ror (i oull l
llw dining hall
in
Black MoulI la in (. 'o lkg\ did nol signiry any o thcr spucc_ O lll:
l11ighl spel:ulate on whelher
lhe
spccilic arrangements o f
lhe
I"our
lrian
gles
I'ormed by the spel:tators' seats pointed lo a fi gure
01"
the Y ij ing ami coulo be
inlnpreteo accordingly_ But this is quite
another
matteL Fi rst ,
there
was
110 particular segment in the room delineated for
the
perfo rmers to which a
pa rticular meaning
could
be attributed; second, any mea ning deri ved from
lhl: Yijing would have to be related to the whole room and, third, reference 10
lhe Yijillg does not provid c an y
due
to the
meaning
01" the act ioDS_
The
space
was
a
real space,
and
it
did
not
signify
another
(fictiona
l)
space. Ra ther, il
I I I S
lhat
it provoked a kind of oscillating reception. The spectator who
ti il:d lo make sen se
of
the event and ils single elements/actions, became aware
tllat hl'r/his usually applied patterns
ofconstituting meanin
g did not fit. The
IIsu.II patterns were not
discarded as
uselcss, however, but rather held in
ahcyam:e, called up , present,
and
yet
somehow
inapplicablc.
Trying
to
ap
ply
1h('1I1 did not
provide
answers, but led to further q ueslioning_ The
dining
hall
wa.s thc
dining
hall- to which the cup
as
wcJI
as
the film clip
showing
the
scl]()()I's cook alluded and, at the
same
time, it was refunctionalized : during
1 lime the untitJed event took place, it was another space, neither the
dining
hall nor a particular fictional space. None
the
less,
the
spectator was not
prl'vented from perceiving
it
as a particular fictional space, if lhat
occurred
tu her/him, nor from asking the question: '
What
does this space signify
or
mean?' In this case, the
spectator might
have
conduded
,
at
lhe end
of lhe
performance,
that it did not mean anything (in
the
sense of a referent attrib-
lIled by the event). Space and its perception
underwent
a
metamorphosis,
a
transformation, as did Ihe search for possible
meanings 01'
its single elements
Iike the cmpty centre, the aisles, and the step ladders.
Similar conclusions can be drawn concerning the sen se 01' time
in
the
perl'ormance
and
the performers. The time
of
the
performance
\Vas the real
time 01 its being performed. I t did not signify another time of
the
day , another
yca r or
epoch, nor
a time in which a fictitious character
performs
a particular
al·lion. It was the time
that
passed during the performance, structured by the
actioll , inaction and silences as indicated by the time
brackets
of the score,
alld
not
necessarily another , fictional time.
Whereas
in the
theatre
of
the 1950s,
the
aetors
used their bodies to signify
ficliona l characters, to
perform actions
that are supposed to signify aetions
hy lhese characters, and uttered words which signified the
characters
' speeches,
tho perl'ormers 01' the
untitlcd
event
employed
their bodies in order to
pcrl'orm
particular
actions: to
playa
gramophone , different
instruments or
a ' prcp¡n'el pia no ' , lO dance through lhe aisles,
dimb
a ladder ,
or
op era te
the projcctor . a
mI
so o n. Wh en lhe perro rme rs spoke, they ei th
er
recilcd tbeir
()WII Icx ts nr Ihcy ¡nad e it
de
a r th al lhey werc reading rrom texts by ot11c r
a
IlI
I
H1
IS. l
nl
hi . wa
v.
q
lll
. s lipll t>w ncern il1.l' fi cti o na l char
ac
lcrs , Iheir hi sl0 ries ,
}I\ :: .
l l 1( l 11 (( I i i I{ 1 \ N
n
1 T 1I ,\ I
ll
'
lIoIl
S.
01 psydwfllgll.·
lIl
mnlivall nn s C) lIld
1101
¡Irise: roal people pcrfo rmed
r
e, lI nt..IIOIIS in a real space in a real time. WlIat
\Vas at
stak e was lhe perform-
;1I1 < e OL ll'l ion s I\(lll he relalion 01 aclions to a tictional character in a fictional
story in a lictional \Vorld, or 10
one
anolher, so that a meanin.gful \Vhole'
IIlight come illto existence.
1 ~ V l : n lhe role 01' the spectator was redefined. Since the referential function
lost its priority, the spectators
did
not need to search for given meanings or
SlruggJc to deciph cr possible messages
formulated
in
the
performance. Instead,
lhey were in a position to view the actions performed before their eyes a nd
Cars
as
raw
material,
and let
their
eyes wander betweell the
simultaneously
pcrformed
actions; lhey w
er
e allowed
not
to search for
any
meaning
,
or
to
accord whatever meaning
occllrred to them to single actions.
Thus
, looking
on \Vas redefined as an activity, a doing,
according
to their particular patterns
01' perception , their associations and
memories
as well
as
on the discourses in
which lhey participated.
At
the beginning
of the I950s, the artefact in Westcrn culture was held to
be the absolllte constitutive factor of any arto Dramatic theatre proceeded
from a literary text, music composed or
interpreted
scores,
poetry created
texts and the fine arts produeed works. Various hermeneutic processes
of
interpretation proceeded from such
artefacts
, and
returned
lo them in order
to substantiate
01'
jllstify different
interpretations
. The artefact dominated the
performance process to slleh an extent that its production (writing_ compos-
ing, painting, sClllpting),
or
its transformation into a per formance (in theatre
and
coneert) as well as of the performance itself and its receplion . had a
lmosl
entirely slipped
out
of sight.
The ' llntitled event dissolved
the
artefact
into performance.
Texts were
recited, music was played, paintings were 'painted over '-- the artefacts becamc
the aetions_
Thus,
the
borders
between
the
different arts shifted. Poetry, music,
and the fine arts ceased to function merely as poetry, music,
01'
fine a rb
they were simuItaneously realized as performance art. They all
changed
into
theatre.
Nol
only did the
untitled
event ' redefine theatre by focusing
on
its
performative
function; it also redefined the
other
arts. These were realized and
described as perForma/1ce But. as mentioned before , the different arts did not
'lInite' in a
Wagnerian Ge .wlI1lku/1SIWerk,
bul into
theatre
, the
performative
art par excellence.
Thus,
the
' untitled
event
not
only
blllrred the borderlines between
lheatre
and the other arts, but al so those between
theatre
and other kinds
of
'cultural
performance .
i
theatre performance is to be regarded
as
a particular genre
nI' cultural performance which, by realizing the features identified by Singer ,
partly differs from other genres ofcultural
performance
as, for instance, ritual,
po litical ceremony , festival, games, competition, Iectures, concerts ,
poetry
rcudings.., film shows, a nd so
on,
amI partly overlaps with
them
.
Th c ' unt itlcu event w
a..,
reali /.cu
}IS
a theatre performance in the Cllllrse
01'
whid , Ict:I
Jlrl'S
, ~ C l r y rcaoin gs ,,, fi lm sho w, slidc-shQ w, concerts,
lah eaux
\
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V 1 SU A L A IU A N () l' l · IU (1 I{ M ¡ N t 1 i\ R 1
vivanl.\ (dog and gramophone, 'His Ma
;
ter 's Voicc') , dance and él kino 0 1 ritual
o r feast (in
the
sharing of
the coftee)
took
place
. Ilowevcr,
these
cultural
pe rformances were not re-presented as in dramatic th
ea
tre , opera , or dassical
ballet
; rather, the performance
\Vas
the
realization
,
or the
realiza tion
vas
the performance. Since, in th is i
nstanc
e, thca tre occurred as a non-causaJ,
n
on
-linear
sequence
of
discrete
actions, represe
nted
before an C1udience. its
difTer
enc
e from other gen res of cultural performance beca
me
insignificant.
Performativity turned
out to be the
most
important
characteristic
01'
theatre,
arl. culture. Theatre, art
ami
culture.
thus
, were redefined as performance.
F r
om today's
viewpoint,
the
'
untitled event'
01'
1952
appears
lO
have
been
a rcvolutionary event in Westc rn culture.
The trend
t
ow
ards performativity
w hid . has gradually grown since the 1960s in theatre, the
other arts
and in
cllltlln: in general , was lInmistakably articulated and uncompromisingly
realizcd in the ' untitled event'o
Qn
e could
state that Cag
e 's 'untitled event'
a
nu
Aus
tin 's speech act th
eo
ry heralded the
era
of a new performative culture
and
were its first momentous manifestations.
ror
such a performative culture, theatre
understood
as perfolmative art
/ lIr
n :cellence- as rea1ized in performance ar t--- could serve as a model.
I I theatre is understood as the paradigm of performative art ami, in this sense
;IS lhc
model
ofperformative
culture, what, since the I960s, has it contributed
lo lhe development of such a new performative culture? This issue will be
addressed by drawing on some examples from so-cal1ed per fo rmance art.
Many performances consist of the performance of everyday practices. For
instance. in the piece Cyc/e .lor Water Buckels, first performed in 1962, the
FLUXUS
artist
Tomas Schmit, knelt in a cirde formed by ten
to
thirty
buckets or
bottles,
one of which was filled with
water. Clockwise
, he poured
its contents fram bucket
to bllcket
- - until all the water was sp illed
or evap
Mated . By taking the action
out of al1 possible
context, the search for its
intcntion,
purpose
, conseq uence or
meaning
was doomed to be as unsuccess
fuI
or , at least to
remain
as undccided as in the
case
of the elements in the
'u lltitled event'o The focus lay on
the
very
process by
which the action
was
perl ormed. The spectators witnessed how Schmit pomed water from bucket
lo bucket ami since the context in which such an activity
could
be performed
in l:veryday Jife was lacking, one could
not attribute
a meaning to it- as, for
l'x
ample, preparing to
c1ean the
flnor
,
extinguishing
a fire , filling a
trough
.
d caning a bucket/bott1e,
demonstrating
a safe hand ,
and
so on: Schmit's
aelion
cOllld
mean
a]] this, sOlllething else
or just
what
it
was : pouring water
fmm nne
bucketlbottle into the next.
Other perforlllances al1ude
to
or draw on different genres of cultural
Ill: rl"o rllla nee: rituals , festi va
ls
, services of a1l kinds, Céu'nival, circus perform
;lIlees, shows al a
r o u n d
story-te
l1
ing, bailad si nging,
conc
e
r1 :;
.
spor
ls,
.U. 1I11es, and S
()
011 . In
su ch cult ural
perf
or manccs,
CIII Uf'
l' was (and is)
dcfi
lll.:d
anu rca lil.cd
.IS
pcr l or
ll1
utivc. Tha1 is nol
111
say
111 . 11
:lI ld ; \I: ls are not
IIsed or do Ilnl pl •
, .
IlI'ollJ inenl
rok Q ll i1l' 111 ' l'l ll tl l,1I V
in
Ill
illly c ll l1 ural
1'11(1-
o
U
M i\ N
(' 1;
i\
R
I
i\ N I) IU I U i\ 1
IK:rfor mam:I.:S SO /lll' k ind 01"
a r t c f ~ l c t s
are nceded , some are cven essential for
t k realization
uf
the pcrformance. Ilowevcr. they only
function or
are able
tu display their special power as e1ements 01' a
performa
t ive process, and not
as
artefacts.
Therefore
the
use
of
artefacts in a cultural performance by no
means entails a reduction of its performativity.
Since cultural performances emphasizc the performative character of
culture, it seems wise to proceed from performances that reter in
one \Vay
01'
another
to a genre
of
cultural performance when
embarking
on an investi ga
lion of theatre's contribution to the developmcnt of a nc\\' performative cul
ture. In view
of
the great
variety
of
possible
genres
of
cultural
p r f o r m
rcferred
to
by
performance
artists, however , I shal1 restriet my explorati oll s
to
performanc
es which , in one way
01' another, have
tak en recourse to a
particularly basic genre , namcJy the performance of rituals .
2.
Perf
ormillg ritual or tbe ritualization of performance?
SeCO/Id actüm
1
Nitsch s
OI XY
my.\·te T theatre
The
wal1s of the main room are covered in white hessian splashed with
paint , blood ami bloody
water.
on a meat hook, at
the
eod
of
a rope
hanging
from the ceiling, hangs a slaughtered, bloody, skinned I<lmb
(head down). a white c10th is spread out on the gal1ery floor. beneath
the
lamb
, and on it lie lhe blood-soaked in test ines. the
lamb
is swung
across
the
room. the wal1s, the floor
and the
spectators are splashed
\Vith blood. blood is poured out of buckets over the lamb 's inna rds
and the
floor
ofthe
gal1ery.
the actor
tosses
raw
cggs against
the
wa
l1.s
amI
on
t o the floor and chews a tea-rose. the bloody lambskin hangs
on the blood spattered hessia n wal1. more blood
is
splashed over it.
6
Thc action
lasted
thirty minutes
and
was accompanied
by
music by
the
Greek
composer
Logothetis:
loud
noises were created by the
composer
as he
drovc
his hand , in rubbing and pressing ll1ovemcnts , over the
tallt
skin
of
a drum.
The action was performed by Hermann Nitsch on
16 March
1963 in the
J)vorak gal1ery in Vienna. It \Vas his second 'act ion ' . Nitsch had trained as a
graphic dcsigner
and
developed the later so
-cal1ed '
action
art'
by
\Vay
of
'action painting' , in \\'hich he poured red colour on a canvas in the presence
nI' onloo kers. After initial
attempts
at concrete poeO'y and drama, Nitsch 's
second action already contains almost
al1
the e1ements constitlltive
of
his
'()rgy M y
stery Theatrc',
which
are
constantly
repeated
regardless
of
whether
Ihe per fo rma hce
lasb
thirty minutes , fifteen hours (as his seventh action ,
l
ook
place
0
11
16
Ja
n ua ry 1965 in Ilb a partment
an
d stlldio) or six days
(as th \,;
play
planned ror lile Pr
ill
/
A:n
do
rf
Sc ll lnB).
Al1 lhc clclllcnts IIscd hy
Nitsdl
i
a 11l t'urlllancc a re c ha ra
cter
izcd
by
two
Illain f'ea lul cs. Ilt cy aH' ¡¡J h1 l, ltl y 'iyll11 tUlil' ;U d IlIey provokc a strong sens ual
- t i
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V 1 S U A LAR T A N 1) l H H l t ~ M N ( ' 1
1
I( I
inlpression, Nitsch himselfhas listeo a number of sy mbulal' \ l ¡ , ; i : l l i Ihal
can be presupposeo for any ofthe e1ements.
Concerning
the enlrails he spLó lics:
slaughter
house, sacreo killing,
slaughter
,
animal
sacrifkc. human sacrilic
\
,
prilllÍtive sacrifice.
hunt,
wa r. surgical operation . Amongst possibk sensual
i r l 1 p r l ~ s s i o n s he mentions: blood-warm,
blood-soa
ked, mallea blc. res ilicnt,
s l l i r t l ~ d lo
bursting
, to puncture,
to crush,
a
str
eam ofexcremen t, the i
nt
ensive
ud
ollr
ofraw
meat and excrement ' . To tbe elerne
nt
'bJood ' N itsch assigns sym
holic
associations
:
red
\Vine,
Eucharist.
tbe blood o Christ , sacri.ficc . human
ilicc, animaJ sacrifiüe,
slaughter,
primitive sacrifice. sacred killing,
Jife
illiccs'. and sensuaJ impressions: '
body-warm
, warm from the sJaughter, blood
wet ,
bright
,
blood-red
Jiquid,
to
be spJattered, po ured,
paodleo
in,
~ ¡ ¡ l I y
tastc
,
wounding
, killing, a white
dress smeared
wi th
blood
,
mens
tr ual
hllllld, thc stench ofblood . With regaro
to
'flesh' Nitsch
names
the following
syrllholic assocíatio ns: 'bread , Eucharist, the transforrnation ol' bread in to
II
ll
hody of Christ
(flesh). sacrifice,
animal
sacrifice, h
uman
sacrifice, sa
crcd
kilJillg,
slaughter
,
wounding,
killing. war, hunC. The
corresponding
sen su
al
illlprcssions he cites are: body-warm,
waml
from the slaughter, blood-soaked,
\WI,
n l
W,
bright blood
red, malleable, resilient, the taste ofraw
meat, wound
ill
J:¡, killing, the steneh orraw
meat
,.7 The
tea-rose , according to
Nitsch,
pr
o
V()kes
the symbolic
associations erotic
flower (Iust) , rosary
(Madonna)
,
qu e
en
()l lhe Ilowers' and releases the sensual impressions
seent oftea-roses
, the
tas
te
(JI tca-rose petals,
the voluptuous
opulenee 01' tea-roses ,
the
tea-rose stamen,
the pollen
of
the tea-rose'. s
It
is
striking
that
most
of
the symbolic associations
Nitsch assigns
to
the
COl1stitutive elements of his
actions point either
to
archaic/mythic
or to
Christian/Catholic
rituals.
They are
intended
to operate as
links between the
action/perforrnance taking
place here
and now
(in the early I 960s)
and cer
tail1 kinds 01" ritual which still
oporated
in the
context
of Western
culture
(in
Vicl1na in the early I 960s) such as the rituals ol' the Catholic church or those
\ V h i ~ h
we imagine
as having taken
place r which
stil1 do take
place- in
;
llh..
:icnt Greece and other cultures, This does not necessarily imply that the
s P l ~ t a l o r s shared the symbolie associations
proposed
by Nitsch. But , al
I tl' very least. we
can assume that
as
members of
the Viennese
culture
of the
I %()s. they disposed of a universe of discourse which was
open
to the possi b
ilily ofsueh associations.
9
11]
any
case,
not
only the
symbolic associations but
also the sensual impres
s inl1s were aceessible
to
perforrners
and spectators
alike. In
Nitsch s actionsl
(1 l. rJ ormances, the spe
ct
ators were involved, evcn acted as perrormers. Thcy
WCl'e splashed with bload ,
excrement
o
dish-water
and other liquids a nd wera
. ivl'1') the op po
rtunity to do the
splashing
th ems
elves.
1.0
gut the
lamb, to
·o n).¡ umc the mea t
and
the win e.
'r he sensunl i
l11p
rcssio
n:;
a nd Ú1c sym
o()l ic
a
ssw.:
i;l
li
PIIS Ir iggercd by the
d irf
en
:n l ch:rlll:
lII
S o rl he e r r ~ c c , u w ~ V \ ; ,
\\In,
lI, d.',,'d ;tlld
stnrctu \
t.J
IhlCl ll ·h l t : c lo Olll: ¡(llmill il lll clerl1e lll ' 11 11 1.1 111 111
W.'/,Icrrl
C (¡ristian
1
\el
,
.. In
()
R I\1,\ N c ,
A l
U
AN
II
R
I,
' I I
I
( ' 111111 1(:. Illl: larllh sYlIIhnli/.cs
l
hrisl alld his s;l¡,;rilice. Thcrel orc, the Jamb,
as Ihl' f()ta l ccn ln:
M
almost ¡¡ II \ )1" Nitsch s pcrfi.m
nances
. opens up a
dimen
:>It>r l
whieh st rc
J1
gthens the allusioll to C hristian rituals to which the possiblc
l l 1 h ( l l i e
aclions
m¡J)' rcler. Nitseh labels it the ' mythicalleitrnotif
of
the orgy
lIlysh:ry thcutre (ll1ythical expression 01'
the
collective need to
abreact) the
I
ransformation ' .
comm union : T AK E , EAT, TI-lIS lS MY RO O
Y.
BROK EN F OR
YOU F
OR
Tr i E RE
MIS
SION OF SI NS
. . .
DRJNK YE
ALL OF THIS, FOR
THIS
IS MY BtOOO OF Tl-IE
NEW
COV
E
NANT: SHEOFOR YOU ANO FOR MAN
Y .
..
the crueillxion of
jesus ehrist
the tearing apart 01' dionysus
the
blinding
01' o
edipus
ritual castration
the killing
of
orpheus
the killing of
adonis
the
cast
ration
of attis
ritual regieioe
kining
ano
eonsuming
the
totemic beast
the pri mitive excesses 01' sado-masochism
consuming
l'ood: meat and wine in sumptuous
measure
O
The
rituals
to
whieh
Nitseh
refers
are scapegoat-rituals,
exorcisms , c1eansing
and/or
transforming
rituals. Like a ll rituals they
do not only signif
y a
particu
lar
action,
they al so
perform
it: the referential function
indicated by the
symbols used in the process of ritual is c10sely linked to , even oominated by,
t he
performative
funetion .
The
ritual is
able to
aehieve the desired erfeet
to
which
the symbols
(objects and/or
actions)
allude---as c1eansing the COT11-
ll1unity. healing
an
individual, tran
s
forming
a
group of individuals
,
and
so
on
.
only because
it
is performed
in a
particular
way.
By equating his
performances
\Vith
ancient Greek
und
Catholic
rituals the
artist c1ail1ls that by perfonning his actions he perforrns a
particular
kind of
ritual.
Su
ch a
c1 aim
seerns pro blema tic in m
an
y respeets, for it ignores basie
dilferenees bctween ritual ::; tha t o p.:ra te wi th in a
co
mm Ll nity and the actio ns
(lerrorl1l cd by the arti s
l.
W h
en. lú
r installce the
Holy
Communion
to
whieh
Nilsch rd eI s, is per l ol lncJ as a ¡ill lid litis p roceclure is cert ified
as
a ritual ,
,
fl
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\ 1 tí
.\
I
11
:
1.'
,111
;1 11
t hl>1
i (
11
pI.'
1
S(l
ll I . I I I ¡ ; ~ 111
.: oIl
lit , , ~ 1
ti pilrl icula r conlcx I a Il
U
IIl1
de l pa l li n tl ul cOlld rtil)l\S a ntl IlL'Ca uM: Ihe
I.
lIl1 glcga lion is cO
l1
vi nccd lhal
he is l'l1lill cd l O perfll rml he aClions, 111 Ihis rilual is comparable t
a sp
cl.'l'
h al't. t call11nly succc eu when
il
is p
er r
or
mc
d in a p
artic
ula r
space
, al
1 rU1l Íl.:u lal lime, in a particular way by a person who is entitled lo pcrform il.
Ir Sl
llllC
OI1C olher lhan Ihe priest sprinkles water 00
somebody's
forehead
and
IIlI
e/s lhe w(mls: 'Ego te baptisto in nomine Pa tris et Fili el Spiritus Sancli',
lit' 11:Is by no Illcans performed a christening- at best , a joke, Benven iste
/lIakcs lhc po inl succinctly:
De loulc maniere, un énoncé pcrformatif n'a de réalité que s'il est
aul
llcnlil ié
comm
e
([cte. Hors
des
circonstances
qui le
rendent
per
/'PI/lJalir, un tel énoncé n'est
plus
rien, N' importe qui peut crier
sur
la
place Pllbli q ue: 'le décrete la m obilisation générale.' Ne pOLlvant etre
1
'1,'
ralll\.
tle I'autoril
é requise, un tel
propos
n'est plus
que paro/e:
il
l I(:
Ju il
ú
une clameur inane,
e n t ~ l n t i l l g e
ou démcnce . Un énoncé
111:/ 1i)l'IlIalir qui n 'est pas acte n'existe pas.
11
n'a
d 'existence
que
1 (1I
11111
C aclL' d'autorilé. OL les actes d 'a utorité sont toujours et
d'
abo rd
d, 's
1.·
II\H1cialions proférées pa r ceux ú qui appartient le droit de les
11
"lIollcc
r.
I\ppl
l
l:
J
lo
rilllals. it
mean
s
that
they will
only
work when
performed by
01 11 ;
1111
horizcd persono
Thus
, s/he is pa
rt
01'
the particular framing
which the
/1
111;11 IICCOS in
ordcr lo
succeed:
12
the frame
may indudc
a
particular
occa
',I P II , place. time. setting, specific actions: in any case, it will be put up by
11(.
1SO li S who are entitled to perform these actions. Therefore, when an ar t
is
l
111-.
..: Nilsch prodaims that he is
performing
a ritual by
perrorming
par ticular
adiulIs, Ihe
qllcstion
arises as to what entitles him to
perf
orm a ritual
whcl hc r in his ()wn eyes or in the eyes of participants/spectators?
Allutlll'r lfllL'stion concerns the relati onship between the performed actions
alld I hl,i,. pnssih le meaning. If we assumc that the action he performs sllcceedb
111
cxac tly tha effcct which it signifies, we have to explain how sign
:11111 sigllifkd Illerge. In the rituals to which Nitsch alludes. this occurs either
0 1
lhe presence 01' di vine or cosmie/magic forces/energy reJcascd by
Ihe
r1ll1al.
What,
in
Nitsch's performance, operates
as a
substitute for
such
ii
1
ces?
Wh<l
l
can
iniliate the merging
01'
signifier ami signified?
Bc r, lrc illVL'sligating t hese
questions
- a
nd
in order to broaden and strenglh en
I he g r()lInd from which to proceed- l will first briefly deseribe two other
p
cr
lÚr/llallL'L'S
whidl
, in
one
way or
another,
also rcfer to ritual: .Ioseph Be uy
::;':;
aclio/l
( orole
: II; .-e AII IN;ca
({/1(1
America likes
1/1('
wh ich too k place in May
Iwn i/l Ihe Rc nt Block Gn lle ry in New York and Ma rina
Abramovi
Cs
Pc/ I'n lllla II
ce
JI /( /ifl.l' uf / IIII II/(/.\ given ,, 1 I he K /iIl / i
Jlfe
l ga I
kr
y in In ns brllck
iJl
le
n . I Bot " per lú rlll; lIIC;cs wcrc very dif'lí:Il.'1I 1 1111111 N
il sd
l 's per formunce
as
\Vd
l ;
IS
1n
1111
,:ac h
oth
e ,- . alld ho lh rd C/I\:d 1
11
( 1
111I
d I
tI
Vl'IV dil '/¡;runl wa vs .
IX
1 1
n 11(
1\1 "
N
( ' 1, ¡\
H
1
¡\ N 11 1(
1 J \J ¡\
1.
( 'I/yl//e: //i/« America ol ld Ame,.ica like:i me
Iku
ys starleJ his action durin g the
tli
ght lo the United States, before even
rL'aching lhe American continent. Ile closed his eyes in ord er not to see any
Ihing.
Al l.
F. Kennedy Airport, complelely wrapped up in felt, he was tak en
lo lhe gallery by an ambulanee. He Ieft the sa me \Vay . During his seven-day
slay he did
not
see
anything
01'
America
other
than
a long,
bright
roOJ11 with
Ihree windows in the René Block Gallery- which he shared with a wild
coyote for a full week .
The room
was divided by a wire screen which separated Beuys
and
the eoyote
rrom the spectators
.
At the far
comer,
stra\\'
was
put
down for the coyote.
Beuys brou ght along wilh him two lon g fclt c1oths, a walking stick, glo vC i, a
lorch
and
fifty issues of the Wa 1
Street ]our 1a (to
which , each
day.
lhe latest
issue
was
added). He presented them to the coyote to snitT
at and
urinate on .
Beuys placed the two felt c10ths in the cenlre of the roo m.
One
he
arranged
as a
heap
in which he hid the lit torch so
that
only its glow
could
be perceived .
The
issucs
of
the Wall Street ]ouf/1al were piled
up
in t\\'o stacks behind the
wire screen
to
the front of the room. With the brown walking stick
hooked
over his a rm , he approached the o
ther
felt c1
ot
h, put on
the
gloves and
covered
hiJ11self completely \Vith the felt ; all
that
could be seen
\Vas
the
staff
slicking o ut. Beu ys created the image of a shepherd who underwent a series of
transformations
thanks
to
the position of his staff:
squatting down
in an
upri g
ht
positi on, he hcld it
up
,
swung
it h
or
izontall y,
pointed
it
to the
f100r.
In response to the move ments of the coyote, the figure turned on its own ax is.
Then,
unexpectedly it would drop sideways to the fl oo r where il remained
stretched out. T hen.
all
01'
a
sudden
Beuys
would
j
ump
up, letting the f
elt
slip
down and hittin g the triangle which hung around his neek three times. When
the last
sound
had died away , he
turned on
a
tape
reco
rder
placed before thc
hars
, so that for twenly
seconds
the noise of
running turbines
was
heard
.
When silence returned, he too k off his gloves and threw them to the coyote
which mauled them . Beuys went to the issues of the Wall Slreel ] ournal whieh
Ihe coyote had scattered
and
torn ,
and
rearranged them into pi les. After
wards he lay down on the straw to smoke a cigarette . Whenever he did this,
Ihe
coyole
would mov e
towards
him .
Al
other times
, the coyote
preferred
to líe on the heap
of
felt.
t
looked in
lhe same direction as the li ght
of
lhe torch and avoi ded a position where the
spcctators wOl/ld be behind its back. Often it restlessly paced the room, ran lO
a window ami sta red out.
Then
it
would
return to the papers
and
chew them ,
dra g thel1l lhrough the room or shil on them.
Tllc
coyotc
kepl a ccrtain dislance from the figure in telt. Occasionally it
l'irclcd hil1l snirli ng
anu
exciledl y jUl1lping at
the
slick , it bit the felt
amI
shred
il
i"lo pil..'Ccs. W h
cn l
he fi gurc lay s lrl'lchcd o ut on the
l
oor lhecoyotc sniffed
alld
rroddcd hl l11
. pawcu 01' s
al
do
wlI
bcsidc hil1l am I 1
ri
el lo cnrwl undc
rl
he
kll,
Moslly, howcvcr. il sl ;I
)' d ..
\\1.1)' . \i Il) th
l:
lig
un
: wil h ils cye
s.
O
nl
y
¡ -4
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I" 1/ .\1 11 It I 11 N 1I l' 1( jq 1 1 \ N C • I ¡\ I
W
/
l'
lI
Ik
ll
Ys SllIokcd Ilis l:igalt.'1l1.' ,)11 Iltl.' "II. IWd
ll
.l il
ap
prom: h Irilll. Il a ving
IIIIIS
II
L
U
bis clgarellc,
Be
lly:; gol lo lIis lél'\. 1
1.'1I
11a ngw lite tell ami
covcn
.:u
lI ullsell agaill.
Whcll a wed had passcd, Beuys very slowly scallered
lhe slraw
all over lhe
roolll hugged lile coyole good-bye amlleft the gallcry by lhe same route he
had a rriv
ed
.
111 co nl rasl lo N ilsch, Beuys mainly used everyday objel:ls - such as lhe
papcls
, l ~ i g a r c l l c s
lorch, slraw
, felt, wal k ing stick, glovcs -
and perfo
rmed
cVl:rydayal:lions
such
as arranging Ihe papers, smoking a cigarctte, sw itch
illg
011
a
lape
n:cordcr. Aceordingly , neither the objeets nor the actions
imp
lied
:tlly a llllsion whalsocver lo ritual. Moreover , it is diffleult, if not impossible ,
1.,
asnihc
lo Ihe objccls
and
actions symbolic associations
shared
by ar tist
allcl spcclalors. Ilowever ,
the
elements we re accorded a symbolic
value
by lhe
;111 iSI, 1101 in lhe sense of flxcd symbols
but
of ' vehicles of experience,
trans
IlIilll'rs alld communicators [ l. They represent hidden el"fects and can be
IlIade cOllccivable and transparent. '/4
Th is is particularly true 01
the
materials and
objects. For instanee,
Beuys
c· .la hlíshcd a rclationship
between
the possible
implieations ofthe
felt and hili
IOlrll\' ' actions when he sta tes: 'the way in which relt operates in my aetion,
\\' 1111
dOllble
mcaning
, as
isolator and warmer,
also extenos to imply isolation
1'1'1111 All1erica ano the provision
of
heat for the coyote' ./
5
He used the loreh
as
' illlagc 01' encrgy': 'First , the lorch houses Ihe energy in co m:e
ntration
, then ,
Ihe
cnergy disperses
throughout
the course
01'
the day
until
the battery has
ItI I K ~
renewcd. ' /6 The
lorch
was hidden in the felt beca use it was
not
to be
prl'sL'nled as a technieal object:
'
It should be a source
of
light, a hearth , a
disappearing
sun glowing out from under this grey heap.'/7
The brown
gloves
which Beuys threw to the coyote after each turn represented 'my hands [ ],
Ihc
rreedom given
mankind through the hands. They are free lo
do
all kinds
tlr IlIings, an inflnitc range of utensils are at their disposal . The
hands
are
IIlliwrsal.' lx Beuys showed the manifold meanings
of the
bent walking stick
ror
lhe (irst time in his action Eurasia (1965): it represented the streams
nI'
cnergy lhat ftoat in EURASIA from east lo west
and
wcst to east.
The
11 111/ lrccl
ounw
on
Lhe
other hand
, embodies ' lhe calcifieo death-starc
01'
'A PIT
AL thinking
(in Ihc sen se of being forced
to capitulate to
the
power
of
l110
ncy
ano position)
f .. .
Time
is
the measure
01' Ihe
symptoms
01
the
faot
Ihal CAPITAL has
long
bcen
the
only artistic concept.
That
,
too,
is
an asp
cct
01'
IIH; United States:/
9
Even the two sounds
produced
in the performallces.
1he
hitting
01' lhc
triangle
and
the noise
01
the
turbincs,
were
accorded sLlch
lIIl'anings.
The
noise 01' Ihe lurbines was ' lhe echo 01' the ruling technology :
l'lIl'I"gy which
is
never harnessed ', while the sOllnd 01' the triallgle is rem inis
CI.:1l1 n
I'
' Ihe uní ly
an
d Ihe
on e
' ami is
co n
ccived 01' 'as a slrcam
or
co
m;
c;o lls
II CSS dirl'clcd a l l he coyolc' .'
tl
111 ni N il sch 's pe rformallce , 11I
t.
S Y l l l h l l l l ~ ' .1'iS I1C iali.II1S ass igncd lQ
v;
lIicll
lS
dl?
lIl1:11l'< hy I he
ar'lisl
ar
e nol
...
IfI It'
I,y
his s
fli
x la lnni ,
111
l ' H It ' 1 1
11
N C I
't
I ,\ NI) 1( I
I
I
allhou
g
ll;
1
111
(,1 CIIlIIlIlllllio11 wa
s
1I11imaldy possible, since lhe clcmenls
01'
his pc rrOnnanCl' hclollg
lo
a general 1I1livcrsc
of
discourse. In
Beuys's
per
forrnallce, this assul11ption
cannol
be
madc. Ralher,
it is Illost likely that lhc
Amcrican visitors did not share lhe associations
suggesled
by Reuys at all and ,
accordingly,
made quite
difl"erent
associations
when perceiving the objects.
However, therc are two aspects which overcome such objcctions
and
poin
to Ihe special
slatus
of
the performance.
First,
the
objects were
not
linked
to
lhe meanings explained by
Beuy
s in the
sensc
01' fixed symbols. Rather thcy
were
Ihought to
be able
to
unfold and realize
lheir
potential meanings and
clTects only in Ihe context of the event thal constituted the performance : the
meeting 01' Beuys and the coyote.
Second , a eertain mythical dimension was ac¡;orded
lo
both partners.
Beuys designed and staged himself as a shepherd-like figure , alluding
to
Ihe
Good Shepherd, on one
hand, and
to a
shaman,
on the
other
-
that is lo
say,
to
a figure which possesses di vine
and/or
cosmic/magic forces . As his partner
in the performance he chosc a coyote which represents one
of
the mightiest
Indian
deities . The
coyote
is said to be b1essed with the
power 01'
transforma
tion, able to move betwecn physical
and
spiritual states. The alTival of the
white
man changed
the
status 01'
the
coyote.
lts inventivcness
and adaptabil
ity admircd and revered by the Indians as subversive power \Vas denounced as
cunning
by the white mano
Thus,
it
became
the '
mean coyote
' which
could
be
hunted and killeo as a scapegoat. Accordingly , Beuys's performance louched
on
a '
traumatic momen '
01'
American history:
'
We should
settlc
our
score
with the coyote. Only then can this
wound
be healed .'21 Beuys undertook the
action
in
order to
reach this goal.
I
t was
performed as
an 'energy dialoguc
'12
between
man
and animal, aimed at triggering the spiritual forees necessary
for 'healing this
wound'
in
the
performer.
He
acted as a kind
01' shaman
who pcrforms a healing ritual
that
will
save
the eommunity by restoring the
destroyeo- cosmic- order.
Although the parlicipants/spectalors were not in a position lo share the
possible
meanings accorded the
objects by the
performer
it was
assumed
that
they would benefil from the shaman's actions as he conjurcd up
or
exorcized
the hioden potenlial meanings and effects of
the
objeels employed,
thus
releasing the 'healing forces', i.c .,
the
spiritual forees within himself which
enabled him to ael as
a
representative
01' a
community
---
at
least in his
own
vie\\'. That is to say in terms 01' Beuys 's performance. thc questions formlllated
abo ve bccome even more press ing.
The lips 01 T lOnras
Thc
lhird example
radicaliLes
ami
, thus, brings
into
focus
an
aspect
that
was
simila rly consli tu live or the two
other
performances, nam e ly the use and
lrl'allllcnl ur lhe perl'ormcr's
bo
uy . In her performance ,
7he lips
01
Thomas
Ma r ina
Ah
lall1l\v
ié ahus
eJ
he
l ()wn h
ody I'\)r
I
w()
hours in variolls ways .
11
V I S J
¡\
L ¡\ R T
¡\
N]) l I R 1 e111 M
¡\
N
l
\ It I
. . 1( I N . . :\ I N . ) I
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Abr alllovié started
by
undressing total1y
l W I
ylllillJl. slle l/id Was pcr
formed naked. She then sat down at atable CUVc,;1 el \Vil ha while do lh and sel
with a bottle
of
red wine. a glass of honey. a gla ss, a silver spoon and
él whip. Slo\Vly she ate
the
honey with
the
silVl:r spoon ,
poured
the red wine
into the crystal glass and drank it. Arter s
wa
IJ owin g
the
wi
ne
, she broke
the
crystal glass in her right hand , hurting hersell . She got up, went to the back
wall where, at the
beginning
of the performance. she
ha
d fast
ened
a
picture
01
herself and framed it by drawing a five-pointed star around it. She then took
a razor blade and cut a five-pointed st
ar into
the skin
of
her belly. Then she
seized the
whip
. knelt down
LIndel
h
er
picturc,
her back
to the audience,
and
started to
llog herself violently on
the
ba
ek . After this, she la)'
down.
arms stretched out,
on
ice cubes laid
out
in a cross. A radiator hung from the
ceiling was directed towards
her
belly.
Through
its heat, the slashed wounds
of the star
began
to bleed
copiously
again. Abramovié
remained
on
the
cross
of iee for thirty min utes until
some
spectators spontaneously
removed
the ice
and
thus
broke off the
performance.
No doubt, the most striking aspect of this performance was the self
mutilation.
However, the objects
Marin
a
Abramovié employed
in
order
to
execute the self-mutilation also allow for a variety
of
symbolic associations.
The five-pointed star, for instance,
may
be interpreted in
various
mythic<ll ,
metaphysical, cultural-historical and political
contexts
(even as a fixed symbo l
of a soeialist Yugoslavia). The
same
holds true for
other
objects:
the whip
may
point
to
Christian
flagel1ants ,
to
flogging as punis
hment and torture
or
to
sadomasoehistic
sexual practiees:
the cro
ss of ice
may
be related to the
crucifixion of Christ-·but also to icy prison cells or to
winter
and to
death.
Ea
tin g and drinking at
atable
using a silver spoon and a crystal glass
may
be
perceived as an everyday action in a bourgeois surrounding
but
may equally
allude
to
the
Last
Supper.
Whate er symbolic
associations
were triggered by lhe objects, they were
not caused by objects in isolation- the objeets as such-- but because they
were used as instruments of self-mutilation. The
actions
which
Marina
Abramovié
performed
with these objects structured
the
performance in a way
that its similarity to a
scapegoat
ritual (or a ritual
of
initiation), in which
the
performer
played the victim, became obvious.
By
undergoing a series of
cleady
perceivable physical transformations such as
the intake
of
certain
substances,
mutila tions by the incision 01 the star, flogging, bleeding and freezing, in
short,
by
undergoing
such
an ordeal, the
naked performer
acquired
a
ne
w
identity. Neme the less , it is difficult to classify the perfonnance as a ritual
either
a scapcgoat ritual
or
a rite
of
initiation , for such rites not only
sup
pose a eonsensus a
mong
members of a
comm
unity
concerning
th e symbolic
mean
ing of the obje
et
s cm
plo
yeu but such violation
::;
and m uti la lions
conc
eived
of
as con
stitut
ive elements Qf the
ri
te are usually innictcd lhe
vi
ctim by melllbers 01' l ile
co
mrn ulli ly empowercd
SI) 111
dll.
l/cre
, it
é l ~
lhe
"1"
. J{ ,\ lt ¡\ IU . 11:\
per flll mlT wlto 111 Ulckd lhe pa
in
011 hersclr and lhe speclalo rs were the onc.s
lo end
lhe onl eal by rell10v ing lhe ice.
As in lhe case
01
the per formances by Nitsch and Beuys. though in
other
rcspccls very difTerent ,
Ab
ramovié's performance alluded to a particular
genre 01 ritual without actualIy realizing it.
AIl these artis1s introduced or used ritual
structures
in
their performances.
They followed, for instance, the three phases of a rite identified by van
(¡ennep.21 They started with a clearly marked separation phase: Nitsch, by
arranging
the
environment and by
puttin
g on a white garment: Beuys, by
lctting himself be wrapped in relt at the airport ; Ab ramovié, by setting the
cnvironment and
by undressing.
The
actions
described
aboye constitute
the transformation
phase
. The final incorporation phasc was indicated
by the
shared meal at the end of
Nitseh's
ritual/performance, by the wrapping up 01
lhefi
gure in Beuys's, and by the spontaneous actions 01 so me spectators in
A
bramovié's
performance.
It does appear that the structure and the
proc
ess of these
three perform
linces derive from rituals. I hesitate , however, to class them as rituals despite
lhe claims and interpretations of
the artists
themselvcs, as my initial q uestion
remains unanswered: '
What
entitles an artist to perform a ritual not onl y in
his/her own eyes
but
also in
the judgement
of
the
other participants, namely,
lhe spectators ?
3.
The
body in
perf
or
man
ce
In eaeh of the performances which
1
have described, the artist used her/his
body in a striking manner. Nitsch polluted his body with blood and excremcnt;
he put his hands deep into the entrails of the lamb and thus , allllost IitcralIy,
carried out the lamb 's disembowcfment himsclf. He exposed his body to
various
sensations
through contact with blood, wine, paint , dish-w
ater,
m ine,
excrement
; and he inflictcd violcnce on
the carcass
of the lamb with his
own
hands . Nitsch's body was the locus of performance. By using different ma
tcrials and objects , he not only changed them
but
also transforllled hi s own
body
.
In Beuys's perfo rmance the performer's body obviously served a diff
ere
nt
purpose. By living
in
th e company 01 a wild
coyote
for seven
day
s and nights,
Beuys
crcated
a particular
situation. On the
one hand , he exposed
hi
s body to
Ihe risk
of
bcing attacked , bitten or perilously hurt by the
coyote
. On the
other, he
cmployed
his
body
to cOlllmunicate with
the
animal.
The
energy
0
1
lhis ·
dialogue
' proceeded from and was received by his
body. The
spiritual
forces which were mean1 to
bring
about the ' healing ' were to be releascd in
alld
oul orhis bod y.
Ano this blldy, in turn. did n01 rcmain
unchanged
alllidst
alll hese risks an d ir i was ulli lllalcl y unharmed . T hc sevcn days
aml nigills shareu wil h Ihe COyotl' I
d '
hl'ir illlrrin l.
\'1
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y tS tJ ,\ t. i\ It '1 i N / )1 I
lIt
H )I { M:\ N t . 1, ¡\ IU
A h
.
I II " )\ i( ahu:i('d 11,')" hlldy, lilcral ly l'Il! illl o IIcr OWII
fksh
, intlicled injuries
PII il Ihal I.:l\uscd
pain
alld lel'l las l ing lraces. Bul
shc
did nol a rticulate her
pains by
sc n:am ing. Sh\: simply pcrformeJ sell'-mutila
ting actions
and
pre
sl:ntl'tl hc r blccding, sufl'cring body to
the
speetalors .
She
exposed
the
process
(11'
hurl
and its visible
traces
, but not hc r
pain
- this
hall
to
be
sensed
by
the
spcctalors. But
obviousl
y this sense bccame
so
strong
and
unbcarablc
that
Ilw y
interfercd
an d put
an
end
lO the
pcr
former's tortures.
111 these actions the performers
put
their
bodics
a t risk lhrough trans
{úrlllations, thrcats
ami injuries which
Iegitimi zed
the
performance. Since
thc
p CI formcr put her/his body in danger , the construction ofher/his own ' [¡ction
l he ll1ythical dismemberment 01' a god , t he dialog
ue
with a
coyote, the acqui
sltillll 01' a ncw identity- was substantiatcd an d , in this sense, transformed
inlll
'n:ality'. It was preciscly
the
dctiled
, endangered ,
violated
body that
l'lIlilkd the performer to perform such actions as {('the performance were a
1il ua
1.
r his condition c1carly
marks
thc principal difference between an acknow
h d
'\fd
ritual
and an artist's performance. TraJitional
rituals originate
in col
h.:
t: 1ivc constructions . such as myths , legends and
other
traditions; to pcrform
a rilual is
to
re-substantiate
them
and to reaffirm
their
effects. The artist's
pcrl'ormances, on the
contrary
, proceed from
subjective
constructions.
Bere
,
il
is
only
the defiled body of
the artist, the
endangered and still unharmed
hn
dy
, the boJy in pain , which is able to substantiate
these
constructions for
thc spcctators. The perfo
rrn
crs' acting and suffering bodies
,
thus
,
gain
the
power 01'
evidence
of proof
in the eyes
of
the spectators.
Ilowcver
,
the
spectators
do not
participate in a ritual as
do the
members
01' a Catholic congregation
at
Holy
Communion, 01'
the participants
at
a
shamanist Jemon exorcismo For even if
the
particular
use
of
the
body may
substantiate the performer's subjeetive constructions in the cyes
of
the spec
t:ltors
, it
does
not follow that they will ' believe ' in these constructions , i.e .,
Ihal they will be convinced that they are participating in the dismemberment
uf
a
god
,
in the healing
of America's traumatic wound. in the birth of a
ne
w
itkntity, 01' a sacrifice. At
best
, they wilI sense 01' even believe
that
the artis t's
lis
\
01'
Ihc
body
manifests
and
reveals
a new attitude towards
the body: lh
e
attitllde 01' 'being my bod y' instead of only having it , as Plessner put it.
24
Lwn
if
the
particular
use
of
the body
Joes
not entitle the artist to perform
rilllal or transform the performance into
ritual
, it endows the
human
body
witll values
long
sin\:c
forgotten
and
ignored
in wcstern culture ·va llles
tha ,
al
othcr
times
01'
in
other
cultures , were realizcd when such rituals were
pt'l"formed as
those
lo which the artist ' s performance
alludes
.
I f \Ve
condude
that the artist does
not
pc rfo rnl ritual, what ha ppens
to
the
rdal io llship netw
ce ll
th e a
ctions perforln
cJ und/uJ' 1
111: l1
bic
cts
lJsed a mi the ir
p ( ) s
h l c
rnca nin gs,
lO
lh e rc lation ship bctwcclI 111.: sl ' lIil icr s 1I1lJ lh e signi fieJ ?
I:i rsl. Ih\ >p..:cl all lrs pe rt'civc
how
r t i s l ~
1
('I I() llIllh l ¡
1I
.;
l
io
IlS : po u ri ng
hlu
qd
un
a
wh" c
\: aI1 VllS ,
k
aring
IlI c
l l I
l l1l1 l , 11 11
1
1\
l r
t'
Ir
a lalll h .
"111
l · lt H)J { M ,\ N ( F
¡\
It I
i\
N " IU I I J
¡\
1.
wrappin g
him
sdl'
in a long kit doth,
arranging
papcrs , m o k i l l g a cigarettc.
drinkin g rcd WiIlC, clltting a fivc-poil1tcd star into her belly , ami so on.
And
sincc the ar tists perform
these
actiolls not only themselves but
as
themsclves,
in
their own
name (not in ordcr
to represent actions
01' a
given stage
persona)
Ihe spcctators will
ascribe
to thcm these obvious
meanings: Nitsch
tears
entrails from
a lamb ' s
carcass
, Bcuys wraps
hjmself into
felt , Abramovié
cuts
a five-pointed star into the skin ofher belly. In this sense one
could
state
a
Illomentary merging
of signifier and signified.
Hut
all these
actions
and
objects cOl1tain an abundance
of
possibilities
which trigger
symbolic associ
ations depending
on
the
universe of diSCDurse of
each spectator.
This
sem
a
ntic
accretion
prevents
simple
merging of signifler and signified . However , the
performance does
not
structure lhe process
of
perception
and
meaning con
slitution in
such
a
way
that any
symbolic
associations are emphasizeJ and
foregrounded.
Therefore
the semantic accretion may result
in a
similar
pro
ces s as the merging: it may draw the speetator's attention away from possible
meanings
of a
gesture
- that
may mean
anything- and focus
on Íts
materiality.
back to the body of the performcr.
Such focus
, at the same
tim
e, emphasizes
that
the action
causes
certain
cf fects on
the
performer' s
body.
When
Nitsch
tears the entrails from
the lamb ' s
carcass he
is tainted
by them
;
when
Beuys
wraps his
body
in
rclt ,
he makes
it disappear
ami creates
a particular
image
;
when
Abramovié engraves a
five-pointed
star
in her belly , it bleeds . Thus ,
despite
the
semantic accretion. the semantic dimension is
devalllated
as second
ury
,
The spectator's attention
, in
this case
, is
not
directed towards
a po
ssib
le
meanin
g, but
focuses
first
on
the physical
execution
of an
action
,
then
on
the
effect
it
has
on
the
performer's body .
While
participants
in
a
rituai may take recourse
to the
collective constru
c
tion
which enables
them
to assume that
by
performing
the ritual exactly only
¡hose actions are caused which it signifies- the
transformation
ora wafer into
Christ's body , the
exorcism
of
the demon- -
because
the merging 01' signifler
ami signified is
based
on
collective
construction,
in the
artis1's performance
they fall apart. Though the
subjective
construction may
be
substantiated in
the
eyes ofa
spectator
becallse ofthe particular use ofthe body, none the Iess ,
the
spectator will
be able
to relate signifier and signified to each other without
considering this
construction. The
divine/cosmiclmagic
forces which
the col
Icdive construction presupposes and whose working the
'
corred
perform
ance
01'
the ritual
will guarantee, are
replaced
in
the artist
' s
performance by
hcr/his individual
demonstration or
her/his
being a body and not
only
having
a body (as the common
basis
of human
culture) ami
the spectator ' s
individual
n:sponsc to it be it particular sensations , emotions , reflections 01' even the
cxccution
01'
cer
ta in
acti
on s (as in Nitsch ' s
performance)
or in
preventing the
pe rl',wme r fr o m co nt in
uing
he r
ac tio
ns.
T
hu
s , I
he
pe lf
on
ne r 's in ma ny rcspc¡;ls, ap pea rs
lo be the basic
con
di
tio
n
rM
Ihi! ':¡
ucccss'
of
lhe pCII IlIIII:III CC.
Th..: risks Laken a nJ Ihe inj uries
su
bs lanlialt: 11
1t:
al
li
s
l'
s
'>lI
h j
cc
l
iw
Ill'
li
llll in Ihe eyes nI' the
spcctat
ors
"Lo
r
l I It 1 e1I( ¡\ NI ' P :\ It r :\ N 11
IU
1 1 I t I
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: I ¡ \ Ar(
1
J \NI
1
i1
l
l1 . , j ( I \I
\N
' l '
Alt
I
ami ,
in
Ihis W
¡y
, k g
it
ima
L hn/llI
s PL lltll
lll
,
lIll.:t
is Ihl:
physicrl
actioll which lriggcrs scnsaliolls , C
l
HlliollS ,ur
d
i l l l p l l l s
l : ~
ill lhe spcclalors lo
<lct thcll1selves and which initiares rcflcctions which will allow thcll1 lo have
the e
xp
erience 01 b
ci
ng
a
body ,
not
only having
él
body.
The
reception process is characterize
cl
by features
that are
eom
mon to
any
process oftheatrical co mmunication and clearly distinguish it from reception
processes in other art forms, which dispose of artefacts. An artefact allows
the recipie
nt to attribute
ever new meanings
to
its vario LIS elements, to their
combination
and to the
structure
as a wholc:
and, whatever
the meanings
may be, it
is
possible for others to check them by direct reference to the
artefact. In a performance, howcver, the process
01
meaning production
in
which a recipient may accord certain meanings to the actions of the per
former is looscly connected to the fleeting moment oftheir physical execution
by lhe performer. Any modification or revision
01
the
meaning
constituted
during the performance
can no longer refer to the actions themselves
nor
are
others
able to refer
to
them in
order to
cheek the
meaning
conveyed to them
by a participant. AII modifications, revisions and discussions will necessarily
refer
to
the
memory
ofthe
participants
, i.e.,
any
process ofmeaning constitu
tion taken
up 01 continu
ed after the
performance is
over will be
performed
as
a process
01
recoHeetion.
The
subjective
eonstruction
which the performer
tends to substantiate through the performance
is
thus brought ¡nto relation
to and followed by the various subjective
constructions
which the
spectators
articulate
as they recall
the
performance.
For
them
, the only
point
of
refer
ence
is
their own memory engraved in their own bodies.
Thu
s, we
can conclud
e
that
the artist s individual
transformation of
the
genre ritua l as realized in the performance has eonsiderably shifted the cul
tural focus. It brings baek into view an insight which has long been forgotten
amI repressed in western culture·- even
if
never complctely: that the basis
of
any
cultural
production is
the
human bod
l
5
and that
this
body crea
tes
culture by performing actions. Here, the focus does not centre on artcfacts
created by sLlch actions privi1cged by western culture in general and the
humanities in
particular
;
rather
,
attention
is
attracted to
the very
moment at
which the actions are performed .
This
moment
, in its ephemeral presence,
is
accorded a time dimension
because
of
its reference
to
subjective
constructions.
It
is
preceded by the sub
jective
constructi on 01
the
artist
\Vho has designed
the
actions, and it ftows
into the subjective construction
01
the spectators who lat er, in the process 01
recoI1 ect ion ,
attribut
e ditTerent meanings
to
them. While
during
the perform-
ance, for a fleeting
moment
, signifier amI signified seem to merge,
before
amI
al ter it, in
the
subjective con structions
01
the performcrs amI thc spectators.
they irretricvabl y fa ll apart. In this respect, one migh l evcn discover a poten
lial utopi a ilJ lh
e:
pe
rf
o rma nce.
T hus, rhysü ::11 r
l.lr
rUn
na
lH :e and its rc:co
lk
clhm ;lp]'lclI r tn Oc Ihe ]'lri llcipal
Il\l ll.lI.:S ok ult pnld
11( 1
iun alld iI is
ollly I 1 C 1 1 1 1 ~
,,1 p
hYH
it al pcrrormanCt;
·
1(;
Ihal
is
endnwcd wlllI lhe power
to
Lran
SrOrlll
subjective construl lion into
sl lIsllally pe l l.:ci vab1e realizations which, in
turn,
become the
point 01 dep
ar
ture ror
other
subjective constructions. However, a theory
01
culture that
would proceed from the moment of performance, taking this as its pivot, is
still
to
be developed.
Regarding
the process
of
reception,
the artists performances
described
here fundamenta
lly
question lhe lraditional concept
01
aesthetic distance. When
the
spectators
bodies are splashed with
blood,
when the audience bccomes
cyewitness to actions by \Vhich the artist exposes her/his body to risks amI
infticts
on
it severe injuries ,
how wiIl
they be ablc to kecp
an
aesthetic dis
tance? In such performances,
is
it stilI valid
to
hold aesthetic di stance as the
adeq
uate
attitude of
reception? A
theory of
aes thetic perception
taking into
consideration the body in pain has
stil1
to be developed. For it is highly
q uestionable as to whether the aeslhetics of the sublime al ready deal
\Vith
this
aspect satisfactorily .
And
such a thcory seems al1 the more desirabl
e,
since
theatre
,
fmm
the 1960s and I970s, incrcasingly empl oys
the performer
s
body
in a \Vay which literalIy puts it
at
risk
and
violates it, whether in the perform
ance of individual artists or of thcatre
group
s.
In
th
e 1960s and 1970s the Viennesc
artist
Rudolf Schwarzkogler, for
instanc
e,
abused
his
body \Vith
cables a
mI bandages
(1960);
Ch
ris Burden h
ad
himself locked up in a locker mea suring 2'
x
2'
x :r
for
fiv
e days, nourished
only
fmm
a water bottle placed in a locker
above
(1971); in
the same
year, in
a
performance
entitled
Shooting Piece
Burden was
shot tbrough Ir
is left
arm
by his friend ;
Gina
Pane was cut on the back, lace and hands and , Iying on an
iron bed, scorched and
burn
ed her
body
by candles placed underneath .
26
In
the 1990s, Sieglinde
KalInbach
\Valked
on
fire and trickled
hot
wax
onto her
skin
;27
in
The Reincarnalio/l 01 [he
Ho
y
O r l a l 7 , the
french
perfor
mance
anist Orlan,
underwent cosmetic surgery to
shape
h
er
face
according
to a
computer-synthesized ideal
that combined
the features
of
women in famoLls
paintings- such as BoticeIli
s
Venus
Leonardo s
Mona Lisa
Boucher
s
Europe Diane
from the
Fontainebleau
sch
oo l, Géróme s Psyché. The
opera-
tion was directly trans
mitted
from the surgical
theatre to
a New Y
ork
gallery.
Since the 1980s, performers increasingly use the
bod
y in violent ways ,
both
in dance amI theatre groups. Injuries and pains are infticted on the per
rormer s bodies as, for instance, in the
theatr
es of Jan
Fabre
, Einar Schleef,
Reza
Abd
oh, Lalala
lIuman
Steps
or Fuera
deIs Baus. In
productions of
Ilany K
upfer,
Frank Castorf, Leander Haussmann
amI
others
, singers amI
actor
s
are thrown about
a
mI made
to fall dangerously.
Ir the elldangercd , scorched , pierced or otherwise injured
body is
the focus
nI' attention,
the quest. iQn arises as to h
ow
this affects aesthetic perception.
As
Ua ine Scan y
has
sh
()w
n, pain
C<lnnot
be cOlTllTlunicated:
S() ,
rol Ihe ; ~ H l in pai n.
SI
illn1l k N;¡ hly
Ulld lI
nncgot iahly pn:s
ent
is il tha l lIavin
) .
pain
lllilY
1\1
h\: 1
1111
) .
l1
t
oras
Ihe
1l1
()s l
vihranl
11
\ ' I :-dll\ l 1\
le
1
¡ \ N I ~ 1
I I
IU
t ) lcM"NC 'I '
.
,,
(( I
" " I U\1 ¡\ N e
11 l t 1
1\ N JI
It 1
I I
J
1\
1
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cxa m p
lc
ofwhal il i:- lo haví: í:í:rtaillly , \Vhilc l'or l l l l ~ olhí:r pcrsnn it
is
so elllsivc thal
hearing abolll
pain ' may CXiil
as
Ihe p n mary mo Je l
of what it
is
' to ha ve dOllbl'. Thus pain comes unsharab ly inlo our
midst
as at
once
thal which
cannot
be denied
and
tha l which cannOI
be
c o n f i r m e
To perceive pain can onlymean to perceive on e s own pain, never the pain 01
an other.
The
spectators perceive the action
by
which lhe performer hurts
her/himself but nol the pain whicb s/he suffers. They are only in a position
to assume that
s/he feels
pain.
Thus, a kind
of
parad oxjcal situation
present
s
itself.
The
fteeting
instant
at
whieh
an action
is
pcrformed
and,
thus,
signifi
er
and
signified seem to merge, is exp
er
ienced by the spectator at lhe very
mome
nt
when perception and meaning fall apart and the signified irretrievably separ
ates from the
signifier. While the action
01
hurting herlhimself is
perceived
,
the pain which it causes can only be imagined. A gap opens up for the spectator
between
what is pcrformed 011 the performer s body ,
and
what happens
;/1
the
performcr s body, a gap that seems to be bridgeable only by way
01
imagina
tion. While the performer makes her/his body the scene
ofviolent actions, the
spectator is forced to move the scene into her/his imagination.
The real presence ofperformance
is
questioned not only by the
subjective
constructions
of
the artists and the spectators, but also by the performer 's
pain.
For her/his pain
can only gain presence
for the spectators in
their
own
imaginations
and
not
in the
performance
01
the
action by
which
the performer
hurts her/himself.
Thus, the perfomlance, in a way, turns into a scapegoat ritual. The performer
exposes her/his
body
to risks and injuries
against
which the
spectators
aim to
protect their bodies; the performer causes herlhimself the pRins which lhe
spectators seek
to avoid
.
The
performer, in this sense, suffers in place
of
the
spectators. S/he saves lhem from their own physical sulTering. The ' sacrificial
victim'
at the
torment
and
death
of
a martyr,
or
even
at
the
exccution 01
a
repentant Christian up to the eighteenth century, held 'a magic power
and
the onlookers ho
ped
for '
the healing of certain
diseases
and similar miracles
from the tortured o r execllted sinner , from his
blood
, his Iimbs or the rope ' .l lJ
WhiJe here it
was
the
tortllred and
violated body
of
the sinner
that
seemed to
promise and to guarantee the onlookers own physical integrity , in the artists
performance, it is
the
imagination of
the
spectator which replaces the
magi
e.
Their imagination saves them from the anxieties ofviolence and pain direeted
towards
their
own body
by
imagining
the
performer s
pain and by
attempting
to sympathize with it
and
to sense it themselves.
The
aesthetic perception, thus initialed, triggered
and
provoked
by
Ihe
per for mance ean hardly be described as 'disi nlcrcsled pleasurc . On the
one
ha
nd,
lile spectators fcel sho
cked
anu deny whal they sce ; o n the other, Ihcy
are fascinated because someone viola te s h im/ hefsd l vll llllllaril y an d u l L
Ihe aclion c
on
jllres IIp labnos
nr
lor l
u.n
:
;J OU
phYSll'lIll'
lIl1
ish
lll
cn t.
l l r s
11\
: II C
fascillat
l.!
d
;11111
s Joekcd by
lhcir
OW
Il
L'lIIillsity si
nec. accordin
g lo L'lJllllral
lIorms, Ihey S Jllllld tCd disgusl o r hurror. Il is Ihis ulllbiguily in rcccplion
prll\.;ess
lo
which the performam;e arlisl Rachel Rosenlhal refers:
In per
fornlél11ce art, lhe audienee, from its role as sadist, subtly becomes Ihe victim.
Il is forced to e11dure
lhe
artist s
plight
empathetically .
or
examine its OW
1
responses
01
voyeurism
and
pleasure , o r smugness anel superiority. [ ] In
any case, the
performer
holds Ihe reins. [ ]
The
audience usually 'gives up ,
before the artist. 11 Here, ae sthetie perception may be described as a kind 01
perception which transfonns the
spectator
s into involved participants an do n
this sense. into performers themselves by projecting the scene of the body
onto
the
scene
ofthe
imagination
-
an
imagination
which,
however,
is
tied
to
the body , or is even part 01 the body, i.e., a physical imagination
that
causes
physical
sensations.
Therefore,
the
spectators usually 'give up before the
performer; Iheir imaginations have replaced lhe performer s body with their
own and, thus,
penetrated into the
realm oflhe
incommunicable-
to the pain
of the other , which, 110W becomes manifesl in a physical sensation, a physical
impulse, in a physical response in the spectators.
As van Gennep has ShOW11, rituals work in a community in
order
to secure
a safe
passage
from a given status to a new one
at
moments
of
life or social
crisis in an individual (such as birth , puberty, marriage, pregnancy, illness,
changes in
professional positions, death). The
performances created
by
indi
vidual artists over the last thirty years alluding to or transform ing rituals seek
lo
secure
and
accelerate the passage
of
Western culture from
l
he state
of
a
prevailingly material culture lo a new performative culture. This passage
is
also to be
understood
as
a
passage
from the given order
of knowledge, the
given sign-concept, as well as semiotic processes, towards a new, yet unde
Ilned order of knowledge. The performances,
thus
,
operate
as the signature 01
a time of transition.
Notes
John Cage, quoteo in Roselee Goloberg, Perjiml1ol1ce ArI Prom FUlur;sm lO lile
Presenl (New York: Harry Abraham, Inc., Publishers , 1988), p. 176.
2 Rauschenberg' s
oog
barkeo
louoly throughout
the performance, running after
anyone moving in the hall.
l ~ h e
oog hao been a ve :y popular performer in the
nine
teenth cenlury, but not
lO
everyone s laste
.
Rumour
has
it
that
Goethe
resigned his
direclorship at
the
Weimar
Court
Theatre
becaúse
in
f a
l lund Fon
Allhry
él
hve
dog
\Vas desecrating
lhe
holiness (JI the
stage.
Richard Wagner. Gesol11l11elle Sc/¡rrfien lIIul f);cltlungen ,
I- IX , Vol. IV (Leipzig:
E.
W.
Fritzseh, 1887 8:
2nd
edition),
p. J.
4 M ilton Singer, ed.,
Trad;lio//olln(/;o: Slruclure Ilnd C/¡ol1ge (Philadelphia: Amer
ican
Folklore Society
,
1959),
p. xii.
5 [bid.
p.
x
ii fT
(,
Herlllalln Nitseh, /)e/l Org;I /1
My
sl,.,.;c/I
n/mler.
f);c
Porliluren
al/a u l ~ ( f i : i h r l e n
kl;(lI/( /I/W)(i 1 )( 1 . I':rstllr Balld, l . . , Ak linll. (Ne;l pe Il M ünchen/ W ien : Editioll
Frcihol ,l." 11)71)). p. 50.
1
11
V I S , I A I A I( I 1\ N
1'1
It H li
t
M A N ( ' h A I( I
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7 Ikrnwnll Nitsl:h,'I>il:
Rcalisatioll
\f\
:s O
.M. I'hca tcrs '
(
In' l
).
In I
krmann
Nits('\¡ ,
Das
Or
g
icl1
Mvslaiel/ 'I'I/I·lIlel'. Malli/<'sll'. i/llf.i'iil e. Vol'/rüge
(Salzburg/W
kll:
Residcnz- Verlag.1990),
pp.
67- 107
pp.1J]
Ir
8 Ibid. pp . 105
fL
9
This
is not
the
place
to i n v e s ~ i g a t e
lhe special trauitions
on
which
tlraws
- in particular
the
Viermese
tradition.
Concerning
this qu
e
stion,
E
kke
hard
Stiirk ,
Hcnnwl/1 Nilsch, Dos Orgien j\;/y sleriel/ Thealer um} die Hysterie del' Griec/¡m.
Quellen L lid ]i-aelil iOl1en ZUlI ~ V i e n e r
A
I/Iikenhilel.l'eil
/850
(M ünchen
:F ink-Verag,
1987).
I (J Das Or¡;iel/ Myslerien- Thcaler,
p. 87.
11 Émile Benveniste, Prob/emes ele lín¡;ui.l'/ique ge
nem/e
(París:
Gallimaru
1966),
p.273:
'In
allycase, a perforrnative stalemcnt
can
only aehieve realitywhen it is
conllrmed as an
al:tion.
Ou t
sidc
the Circumstances
whieh
rnake
il
perform
a tive,
such
a statcment
is
nothíng more than a mcre stat\jlll ent. Anyonc can cal!
out
in
thc rnarkd square,
' 1 declare
general rnob
i
lization'. But this
statement
eannot
beco me action because
itlal:ksauthority,
ít
isjust speech: it islimitedto
an
empty
shout,
childishness
,or
madness.
A perforrnat ,vestatcment without al:ti on
l:anno
t
exist. An authoritative
adion wili!
alw
ays
bc
derived from
sta
tements made
by
those
who
ll
ave
the
right to
exprcss thern.'
12 Conl:erning thc
l:oncept 01' frarne, sel: Gregory
Bateson
, 'A theory
of play
and
rantasy; a report on theoretical aspectsof thc project for st ud y01' thc roleof para
doxes
of a
bstractio nincornmunication ' ,in:APA Psycl/ialric Reseorc/¡
RqiOrts
11,
1955).
13
Marina Abramovié is Yugoslav. Butitwould restrict her perfomlance to ,take it
as a staternent about Yugoslavia.
14 Jo
sep
hBeuys,in
Ca r
olinTisdal!.
.!o.\'eph Be
uys
Coyole.
3rd
edition
,1988(M linchen,
Arst pub1ished
in
1976), p.
13
. (My
description
of the perfonnance follows
the
description
givenby Tisdal+l).
15 QlIoted
in TisdaIl , p. 14.
16
Ibid
.
17
[bid. p. 15.
18
Ibid .p.
15
ff.
19
(bid.
p.
16.
20 'bid .p. 15 .
21
Ci
tedin
Tisdal! ,p. 1
J.
22 Tisdall,p. 13.
23 Arnold
van
Gennep ,
T/¡e Riles o/ Pas.\'age, tr
ollslated by Monika
Vizedom
and
Ga brielleCaffee (Cllicago: LJniversity01' Chicago P ress, 1960).
24 Scc
Helm
uth
Plessncr
,
Alllhrop gie del'
Sil1/1e.
Gesarnmelle Sc/¡rifien in drei
Biind
l (Frankfllrt am
Main
, 1980),and He
lmuth
P1essner,
Laughing al/ I Crying .
A Sll/dy oIlhe limil.\'
o/
Hunwl/ Bl!haviour (Evanston
, IL:
Northwcstern lJniversity
Prcss, 1941 , reprint 1970).
25
See
also
Thomas
J .
Csordas,
ed.,
Emhodil1lel1l
CJl1d
Exp
erie /lce. Tlle
Exisl
elllia/
Groul1d oI Cullllre
(11/(1
Se(/'(Carn brid
ge: Cambridge
lJ
niversity
Pre
ss, 1994).
26 Tlle CO/7{liliol1ing, Part
(
of
Auto-Portrait ' 1972.
27
Frankfurt am Maiu,
1991.
28
New York,
1990
ff.
29 Elaine Scarry ,
The Bo
c(v
in Pain: T/¡e
Makillg / /1 /
Un-Making
oIlhe Wor!d (N cw
Yo rk:
Oxford University
Prcss, 1985),p.4.
30 Richard von D
ülmen
, Thealer de
.\'
S
cI/
reckel1.1'. Geric/¡ I.\prax is ul1d Sl r([(rilua/e in
del'/i-ühen Neu::eil
(M
ünchen:
Bcck PlIblishing [[ ou se. ]\)RR, 3rd ed.), p. 163.
]1
Rache! Ro
senthal ,'Performance
ami
the M
as
ochist J' radili()!l'.In :
Nigh Per(imll
al/ce
(W inter
19
81/2\, p. 24.
:"
0
80
WOMEN'S
PERFO R
MANCE
ART
Feminismand postmodernism
Jeanie Forle
Sourcc:
Thealre ]olll'l/al
40(2) (19););):217- 235.
Limiting
one's
critical focus
to
a
particular
group
of performance
artists
or
their
performances
hasalwaysseemedinappropriate, sinecthat
project
would
appear
to perpetrate
the very
act of denning and
categorizingthat
anything
called performance
art
actively resists . Neverthelcss, the overtly pQlitieal
nature of
much
wom en 's performance
art
since
the
1960shas invited
just
such
a
critical
distinction
,
treating
feminist pe
rformance as
a rccognizable
sub-genre withinthefield.Through thelens01'
post-modern
feminist
theor
y,
women's performance art (whether overtlyso
or
not) appears as inh erently
political.
AII women's
performances
are
derived from the relationship
of
women tothe dominant system of
representation,
situating
them
within a
leministcritiquc. Their disruption of
the
dominant systcm
constitutes
asub
versive and radicalstrategyof intervention vis ú
vis
patriarchal culture.The
implications
of
thisstrategy
may
be
understood through
readings
of
feminist
theory cspecially in relation to performance during
the
1970s. Whether or
not such
considerations must change
for the 1980s is taken up
at
the
end 01'
thcessay,
Arguably
all
performancc
art, particularly in the earlieryears,e
vi
denced
a
deeonstructive i
ntent.
As
the manifestation
of a burgeoning postmodernist
sensibility,
the
violent acts
of Chris
Burdcn
or
the
enigmatic
exercises ol'
VitoAcconci
cast into
relief
the
problema tic
relationship
between lite and
art, between a Rcnaissance conception
of
self
ami
a
postmodern
subject
constructcd by cultural practices. Performance art made understanding (in
any
conventi onal sense) difflcult,critical analysisfrustrating,
and
absolute
definitianimpossible,As a
co
n ti lluat ion 01' thetwcntieth-<:en
tury
reb ellion
agai nstC0111 odilica tion,pc r['nrm;r nec al
t
promiscd a radicalde
parture
from
;om lllcn:ia lislll,",ssilll ila lil'l1, ;llId Iriv ia lily.dCl:O llslructinglhecOlllmercialart
nClwork ; Ind 11111
5(.:
11111
:,
wlll l\: , ,1
1\'
1\
I I s i
l l g l d l l l
lheir
SIJ<I
l:
C,';. Inél
' ''1