Performative Poetics
Construction of a theatre heritage test list within the framework of the Masterpiece Flemish Parliament Act
Research project/commission
Fellow: Silvrants-Barclay Els
Principal investigator: Van den Dries Luk
Tag: Performative Poetics
Duration: 1/2/2012 - 1/9/2012
(in Dutch)
In deze proeflijst leest u het resultaat van 8 maanden onderzoek naar het theatererfgoed in Vlaanderen, aangestuurd door een commissie van experten van verschillende Vlaamse universiteiten en organisaties die thuis zijn in de verschillende periodes en genres van de rijke Vlaamse theatertraditie: Till-Holger Borchert (Groeningemuseum Brugge/topstukkenraad), Prof. dr. Bruno Forment (Vrije universiteit Brussel/Universiteit Gent), Bart Magnus (Vlaams Theater Instituut), Prof. dr. Hubert Meeus (Universiteit Antwerpen), Prof. dr. Frank Peeters (Universiteit Antwerpen), Els Silvrants-Barclay (Universiteit Antwerpen), Prof. dr. Anne-Laure Van Bruaene (Universiteit Gent), Prof. dr. Luk Van den Dries (Universiteit Antwerpen), Chris Van Goethem (Rits), dr. Staf Vos (Het Firmament), en Prof. dr. Frank Willaert (Universiteit Antwerpen).
De commissie onderwierp het erfgoed dat in aanmerking kwam voor het topstukstatuut aan een intensieve studie, organiseerde waar nodig extra overlegmomenten met externe experten (zoals in het geval van het poppen- en figurentheater) en bevroeg verschillende collega’s, musea, instituten, bibliotheken, archieven en erfgoedorganisaties. Dit leidde tot de compilatie van een longlist die in een finale commissievergadering tot een proeflijst van 37 genomineerde topstukken bewerkte.
We startten dit onderzoek met de wetenschap dat de aard van de stukken en/of documenten die tot het theatererfgoed gerekend kunnen worden bijzonder divers is. In een theatraal proces worden namelijk vele artefacten geproduceerd die tot het theatraal erfgoed (kunnen) behoren: een manuscript van een toneelstuk; een regieboek; een manuscript met daarin aantekeningen van een beroemd acteur; een scenografisch ontwerp, een maquette, een schilderij, tekening of gravure van een historische opvoering; een schilderij, tekening of gravure van een historisch theatergebouw; een historische technische installatie; een historisch onderdeel van een decor; een catalogus van toneeldoeken; een kostuum; een catalogus van toneelrepertoire; een affiche; een programmaboekje; een contract; proces-verbalen in verband met zeden en gebruik van de publieke ruimte, enzovoorts.
We merkten daarbij op dat het theatererfgoed, ondanks het feit dat het vele artefacten voortbracht, toch in grote mate immaterieel is. Daarom namen we in deze lijst ook een aantal archivalia op die belangrijk zijn omdat ze de kennis over en de cultuurhistorische context van bepaalde immateriële opvoeringstradities levend houden.
De commissie benaderde het theatererfgoed als een bijzonder ruim erfgoeddomein dat veel raakvlakken vertoont met andere domeinen zoals literatuur, architectuur, beeldende kunst en muziek. Bovendien werd een erg lange periode onder de loep genomen, van de middeleeuwen tot midden de jaren tachtig van de 20ste eeuw. De veelsoortigheid van het theatraal erfgoed, het multidisciplinair perspectief en de lange periode droegen bij de exponentiële groei van het aantal objecten dat de commissie in ogenschouw moest nemen.
Links
Meer informatie over Vlaamse topstukken vindt op http://www.topstukken.be/ake/view/nl/433064-Topstukken.html
Fellow: Silvrants-Barclay Els
Principal investigator: Van den Dries Luk
Tag: Performative Poetics
Duration: 1/2/2012 - 1/9/2012
(in Dutch)
In deze proeflijst leest u het resultaat van 8 maanden onderzoek naar het theatererfgoed in Vlaanderen, aangestuurd door een commissie van experten van verschillende Vlaamse universiteiten en organisaties die thuis zijn in de verschillende periodes en genres van de rijke Vlaamse theatertraditie: Till-Holger Borchert (Groeningemuseum Brugge/topstukkenraad), Prof. dr. Bruno Forment (Vrije universiteit Brussel/Universiteit Gent), Bart Magnus (Vlaams Theater Instituut), Prof. dr. Hubert Meeus (Universiteit Antwerpen), Prof. dr. Frank Peeters (Universiteit Antwerpen), Els Silvrants-Barclay (Universiteit Antwerpen), Prof. dr. Anne-Laure Van Bruaene (Universiteit Gent), Prof. dr. Luk Van den Dries (Universiteit Antwerpen), Chris Van Goethem (Rits), dr. Staf Vos (Het Firmament), en Prof. dr. Frank Willaert (Universiteit Antwerpen).
De commissie onderwierp het erfgoed dat in aanmerking kwam voor het topstukstatuut aan een intensieve studie, organiseerde waar nodig extra overlegmomenten met externe experten (zoals in het geval van het poppen- en figurentheater) en bevroeg verschillende collega’s, musea, instituten, bibliotheken, archieven en erfgoedorganisaties. Dit leidde tot de compilatie van een longlist die in een finale commissievergadering tot een proeflijst van 37 genomineerde topstukken bewerkte.
We startten dit onderzoek met de wetenschap dat de aard van de stukken en/of documenten die tot het theatererfgoed gerekend kunnen worden bijzonder divers is. In een theatraal proces worden namelijk vele artefacten geproduceerd die tot het theatraal erfgoed (kunnen) behoren: een manuscript van een toneelstuk; een regieboek; een manuscript met daarin aantekeningen van een beroemd acteur; een scenografisch ontwerp, een maquette, een schilderij, tekening of gravure van een historische opvoering; een schilderij, tekening of gravure van een historisch theatergebouw; een historische technische installatie; een historisch onderdeel van een decor; een catalogus van toneeldoeken; een kostuum; een catalogus van toneelrepertoire; een affiche; een programmaboekje; een contract; proces-verbalen in verband met zeden en gebruik van de publieke ruimte, enzovoorts.
We merkten daarbij op dat het theatererfgoed, ondanks het feit dat het vele artefacten voortbracht, toch in grote mate immaterieel is. Daarom namen we in deze lijst ook een aantal archivalia op die belangrijk zijn omdat ze de kennis over en de cultuurhistorische context van bepaalde immateriële opvoeringstradities levend houden.
De commissie benaderde het theatererfgoed als een bijzonder ruim erfgoeddomein dat veel raakvlakken vertoont met andere domeinen zoals literatuur, architectuur, beeldende kunst en muziek. Bovendien werd een erg lange periode onder de loep genomen, van de middeleeuwen tot midden de jaren tachtig van de 20ste eeuw. De veelsoortigheid van het theatraal erfgoed, het multidisciplinair perspectief en de lange periode droegen bij de exponentiële groei van het aantal objecten dat de commissie in ogenschouw moest nemen.
Links
Meer informatie over Vlaamse topstukken vindt op http://www.topstukken.be/ake/view/nl/433064-Topstukken.html
Mass Spectacle in Flanders 1909-1955: A Historical, Discursive, and Political Examination of Socio-theatrical Events
Research project
Fellow: Crombez Thomas
Principal investigators: Peeters Frank and Van den Dries Luk
Tag: Performative Poetics
Duration: 01/01/2008 - 31/12/2011
The aim of the project is to fill a notable gap in Flemish theatre history. Methodologically, three innovative approaches are chosen to tackle the rise and evolution of a distinctive performance practice in social, political, and theatrical life.
Depending on the size and nature of the performance, this genre is designated as open-air theatre, mass spectacle, or choral drama. The research project will study the performance history, discursive development, and social and political impact of the genre.
Fellow: Crombez Thomas
Principal investigators: Peeters Frank and Van den Dries Luk
Tag: Performative Poetics
Duration: 01/01/2008 - 31/12/2011
The aim of the project is to fill a notable gap in Flemish theatre history. Methodologically, three innovative approaches are chosen to tackle the rise and evolution of a distinctive performance practice in social, political, and theatrical life.
Depending on the size and nature of the performance, this genre is designated as open-air theatre, mass spectacle, or choral drama. The research project will study the performance history, discursive development, and social and political impact of the genre.
Melodramatic Theater Practice in Flanders (1800-1914)
Frank Peeters
Tag: Performative Poetics
The investigation of the melodramatic theater practice in Flanders in the period 1800-1914 and of popular forms of performing arts between 1850 and 1950 is from its historical approach in se related to each of the four subfields of visual poetics. Seldom before nor since the theater occupied such a central place in social life as during the nineteenth century.
The theater as a performative agens did not restrict itself to the representation in the theater, but it was also to be seen in numerous forms of social-media-political action. Of major importance here are the historical pageants and historicizing painting, both important tools in the consolidation process of the young Belgian nation-state. Both historical (melo)drama as the pageants and historicizing painting provide interesting examples of cross-coding.
In addition, the theater in the second half of the nineteenth century was the place par excellence to present recent scientific achievements and discoveries (magnetism, hypnotism, medical and psychiatric experiments) whether integrated in a theatre production or in theatrical setting (e.g. the hysteria shows of Charcot). (Performative poetics) Nineteenth century acting was profoundly influenced by pictorial codes from the sculpture and painting.
The analysis of a number of leading nineteenth-century acting manuals (Jelgerhuis, Lewes, Garcia, Lewald, Robool) show that both acting in the theater and in the early film was largely indebted to the poetics of the visual arts and especially the classical and neo-classical. (Intermedial poetics). Within the study of popular forms of performing arts the at the time very popular painted panorama's take a special place.
Fascinating because of the appreciation in the middle-class for these in a sense 'immersive' tableaux in which the spectator was literally the center of the artefact. The panorama’s topics reflect the core values of bourgeois ethics: idealization of their own past, longing for moral virginity in the illustration of urban vs. the rural environment, but at the same time also the fascination for the exotic and the strange, the other.
The success of the 'zoo' and the ethnological pavilions at world expositions are closely related to this state of mind (Visual poetics, performative poetics). Little is known about the processes that led to the creation of melodrama in Flanders. Its sources (text brochures with stage directions or notes of actors) are undoubtedly scarce but have not been – as far as Flanders is concerned - systematically tracked.
They almost certainly can inform us on the theatrical praxis of melodrama, on the choices that were made, on the influence of foreign (French) models. (Artist’s Poetics)
Popular Forms of Performing Arts (1850 and 1950 )
Tag: Performative Poetics
Frank Peeters
The investigation of the melodramatic theater practice in Flanders in the period 1800-1914 and of popular forms of performing arts between 1850 and 1950 is from its historical approach in se related to each of the four subfields of visual poetics. Seldom before nor since the theater occupied such a central place in social life as during the nineteenth century. The theater as a performative agens did not restrict itself to the representation in the theater, but it was also to be seen in numerous forms of social-media-political action.
Of major importance here are the historical pageants and historicizing painting, both important tools in the consolidation process of the young Belgian nation-state. Both historical (melo)drama as the pageants and historicizing painting provide interesting examples of cross-coding. In addition, the theater in the second half of the nineteenth century was the place par excellence to present recent scientific achievements and discoveries (magnetism, hypnotism, medical and psychiatric experiments) whether integrated in a theatre production or in theatrical setting (e.g. the hysteria shows of Charcot ).
Nineteenth century acting was profoundly influenced by pictorial codes from the sculpture and painting. The analysis of a number of leading nineteenth-century acting manuals (Jelgerhuis, Lewes, Garcia, Lewald, Robool) show that both acting in the theater and in the early film was largely indebted to the poetics of the visual arts and especially the classical and neo-classical. Within the study of popular forms of performing arts the at the time very popular painted panorama's take a special place.
Fascinating because of the appreciation in the middle-class for these in a sense 'immersive' tableaux in which the spectator was literally the center of the artefact. The panorama’s topics reflect the core values of bourgeois ethics: idealization of their own past, longing for moral virginity in the illustration of urban vs. the rural environment, but at the same time also the fascination for the exotic and the strange, the other.
The success of the 'zoo' and the ethnological pavilions at world expositions are closely related to this state of mind is known about the processes that led to the creation of melodrama in Flanders. Its sources (text brochures with stage directions or notes of actors) are undoubtedly scarce but have not been – as far as Flanders is concerned - systematically tracked. They almost certainly can inform us on the theatrical praxis of melodrama, on the choices that were made, on the influence of foreign (French) models.
Tag: Performative Poetics
The investigation of the melodramatic theater practice in Flanders in the period 1800-1914 and of popular forms of performing arts between 1850 and 1950 is from its historical approach in se related to each of the four subfields of visual poetics. Seldom before nor since the theater occupied such a central place in social life as during the nineteenth century.
The theater as a performative agens did not restrict itself to the representation in the theater, but it was also to be seen in numerous forms of social-media-political action. Of major importance here are the historical pageants and historicizing painting, both important tools in the consolidation process of the young Belgian nation-state. Both historical (melo)drama as the pageants and historicizing painting provide interesting examples of cross-coding.
In addition, the theater in the second half of the nineteenth century was the place par excellence to present recent scientific achievements and discoveries (magnetism, hypnotism, medical and psychiatric experiments) whether integrated in a theatre production or in theatrical setting (e.g. the hysteria shows of Charcot). (Performative poetics) Nineteenth century acting was profoundly influenced by pictorial codes from the sculpture and painting.
The analysis of a number of leading nineteenth-century acting manuals (Jelgerhuis, Lewes, Garcia, Lewald, Robool) show that both acting in the theater and in the early film was largely indebted to the poetics of the visual arts and especially the classical and neo-classical. (Intermedial poetics). Within the study of popular forms of performing arts the at the time very popular painted panorama's take a special place.
Fascinating because of the appreciation in the middle-class for these in a sense 'immersive' tableaux in which the spectator was literally the center of the artefact. The panorama’s topics reflect the core values of bourgeois ethics: idealization of their own past, longing for moral virginity in the illustration of urban vs. the rural environment, but at the same time also the fascination for the exotic and the strange, the other.
The success of the 'zoo' and the ethnological pavilions at world expositions are closely related to this state of mind (Visual poetics, performative poetics). Little is known about the processes that led to the creation of melodrama in Flanders. Its sources (text brochures with stage directions or notes of actors) are undoubtedly scarce but have not been – as far as Flanders is concerned - systematically tracked.
They almost certainly can inform us on the theatrical praxis of melodrama, on the choices that were made, on the influence of foreign (French) models. (Artist’s Poetics)
Popular Forms of Performing Arts (1850 and 1950 )
Tag: Performative Poetics
Frank Peeters
The investigation of the melodramatic theater practice in Flanders in the period 1800-1914 and of popular forms of performing arts between 1850 and 1950 is from its historical approach in se related to each of the four subfields of visual poetics. Seldom before nor since the theater occupied such a central place in social life as during the nineteenth century. The theater as a performative agens did not restrict itself to the representation in the theater, but it was also to be seen in numerous forms of social-media-political action.
Of major importance here are the historical pageants and historicizing painting, both important tools in the consolidation process of the young Belgian nation-state. Both historical (melo)drama as the pageants and historicizing painting provide interesting examples of cross-coding. In addition, the theater in the second half of the nineteenth century was the place par excellence to present recent scientific achievements and discoveries (magnetism, hypnotism, medical and psychiatric experiments) whether integrated in a theatre production or in theatrical setting (e.g. the hysteria shows of Charcot ).
Nineteenth century acting was profoundly influenced by pictorial codes from the sculpture and painting. The analysis of a number of leading nineteenth-century acting manuals (Jelgerhuis, Lewes, Garcia, Lewald, Robool) show that both acting in the theater and in the early film was largely indebted to the poetics of the visual arts and especially the classical and neo-classical. Within the study of popular forms of performing arts the at the time very popular painted panorama's take a special place.
Fascinating because of the appreciation in the middle-class for these in a sense 'immersive' tableaux in which the spectator was literally the center of the artefact. The panorama’s topics reflect the core values of bourgeois ethics: idealization of their own past, longing for moral virginity in the illustration of urban vs. the rural environment, but at the same time also the fascination for the exotic and the strange, the other.
The success of the 'zoo' and the ethnological pavilions at world expositions are closely related to this state of mind is known about the processes that led to the creation of melodrama in Flanders. Its sources (text brochures with stage directions or notes of actors) are undoubtedly scarce but have not been – as far as Flanders is concerned - systematically tracked. They almost certainly can inform us on the theatrical praxis of melodrama, on the choices that were made, on the influence of foreign (French) models.
Re-inventing the Past. Re-enactment in Contemporary Dance and Performance Art
Research project
Fellow: De Laet Timmy
Principal investigator: Vanhoutte Kurt
Tag: Performative Poetics
Duration: 01/10/2009 - 30/09/2013
This research focuses on artistic re-enactment as practiced in contemporary dance and performance art and explores its impact on the historiography, institutionalization and ontology of these artistic disciplines.
The research departs from the observation that, from the 1990s onwards, an increasing number of artists have shown a particular interest in restaging choreographies and performances of the past.
In light of the historical development of contemporary dance and performance art, the emergence of re-enactment seems to mark a turning point, since the formerly iconoclastic desire to undo conventional codes of (theatrical) representation and the continuous search for innovative modes of creation coincide more and more with a distinct concern for the transmission and reanimation of the artistic legacy.
Re-enactment might be identified as a hybrid phenomenon variously appearing in a wide range of disciplines, such as video art, photography, media art, installation art, and so on. This research, however, puts particular focus on re-enactment in contemporary dance and performance art since their status as live performing arts (and the implicated living body of both performer and spectator) adds a supplementary dimension to the re-use of preexisting works.
In short, re-enactment calls into question the so-called ephemeral nature of dance and performance, urging for a reconsideration of the ways in which these art forms are historicized, institutionalized and ontologized. These specific characteristics also inform my particular understanding of the notion ‘re-enactment’ which I take as a generic term for an autonomous aesthetic practice in which various performative strategies are being used to explore and reflect on issues regarding the preservation, transmission and temporality of dance and performance art.
In line with the threefold focus of the research, an interdisciplinary methodology is developed through an inquiry into ongoing theoretical debates (on concepts such as the archive, memory, canon, repertoire, presence/absence, etcetera), ranging from philosophy, aesthetic theory, and performance studies.
The development of the conceptual framework simultaneously informs the medium-specific and close analysis of the corpus, whereby the thematic clustering of cases enables a comparative approach through which the particular dramaturgical and performative strategies are articulated.
Feedback from the case studies into the theoretical debates allows probing how artistic re-enactment practice may provide corrective conceptualizations of the mentioned central notions.
Fellow: De Laet Timmy
Principal investigator: Vanhoutte Kurt
Tag: Performative Poetics
Duration: 01/10/2009 - 30/09/2013
This research focuses on artistic re-enactment as practiced in contemporary dance and performance art and explores its impact on the historiography, institutionalization and ontology of these artistic disciplines.
The research departs from the observation that, from the 1990s onwards, an increasing number of artists have shown a particular interest in restaging choreographies and performances of the past.
In light of the historical development of contemporary dance and performance art, the emergence of re-enactment seems to mark a turning point, since the formerly iconoclastic desire to undo conventional codes of (theatrical) representation and the continuous search for innovative modes of creation coincide more and more with a distinct concern for the transmission and reanimation of the artistic legacy.
Re-enactment might be identified as a hybrid phenomenon variously appearing in a wide range of disciplines, such as video art, photography, media art, installation art, and so on. This research, however, puts particular focus on re-enactment in contemporary dance and performance art since their status as live performing arts (and the implicated living body of both performer and spectator) adds a supplementary dimension to the re-use of preexisting works.
In short, re-enactment calls into question the so-called ephemeral nature of dance and performance, urging for a reconsideration of the ways in which these art forms are historicized, institutionalized and ontologized. These specific characteristics also inform my particular understanding of the notion ‘re-enactment’ which I take as a generic term for an autonomous aesthetic practice in which various performative strategies are being used to explore and reflect on issues regarding the preservation, transmission and temporality of dance and performance art.
In line with the threefold focus of the research, an interdisciplinary methodology is developed through an inquiry into ongoing theoretical debates (on concepts such as the archive, memory, canon, repertoire, presence/absence, etcetera), ranging from philosophy, aesthetic theory, and performance studies.
The development of the conceptual framework simultaneously informs the medium-specific and close analysis of the corpus, whereby the thematic clustering of cases enables a comparative approach through which the particular dramaturgical and performative strategies are articulated.
Feedback from the case studies into the theoretical debates allows probing how artistic re-enactment practice may provide corrective conceptualizations of the mentioned central notions.