Self in Arts: On authenticity, observation and quoting

  • Kent Sjöström (Organiser)
  • Alice Koubová (Organiser)

Activity: Participating in or organising an eventOrganisation of workshop/ seminar/ course

Description

One pervasive issue in current theatre and performance art, motivated by a contemporary political and cultural debate, is how the artist deals with their own subjectivity in the artistic process, their presentation or representation. The 20th century brought many contradictory challenges to this domain: the avant-garde’s stress on the embodied subject, the distancing agent, weakened or decomposed subject, self-expressing subject in performance art, and identity politics.

The workshop will investigate the possibilities of representation in the tension between two different stances, obvious in contemporary performative practice: the first based on the idea of observation and imitation, and the other linked to the need of self-expression. Shall we conceive of imitation as a sign of “non-authenticity”, of a blind belief, or is it an unavoidable and even fruitful aspect of human action? What values, power games and social agenda are at stake in arts when speaking about imitation and authenticity? How can artistic and theoretical perspectives on these issues interact?

Methodology: The workshop will combine practical exercises – on the bodily, gestural, verbal and mental level – as well as thorough discussion, contextualisation, formulation of theoretical implications and scrutiny of the practical work.

Period2018 Nov 22018 Nov 4
Event typeWorkshop
LocationBrno, Czech RepublicShow on map

UKÄ subject classification

  • Humanities
  • Performing Arts