Performer as activator : allowing human and non-human co-performance
Pysyvä osoite
Verkkojulkaisu
Tiivistelmä
In this written part of my thesis, I explore the concept of performer-activator, especially in the context of my solo, (invitation) to be sensitized. I develop a theoretical framework around it, opening up the different layers and nuances of performership by presenting detailed performer-based observations. I introduce three roles which are encompassed in the performer-activator position: the performer technician, the performer-performer and the performer-experiencer. I write about the experience of inhabiting these roles and shifting between them. I also describe the performance maker side of creating conditions for the performer-activator position to materialise in. Alongside these investigations, I find resonances in Joanne Scott’s book, Intermedial Praxis and Practice as Research. To articulate her practice, she uses similar terms to the ones I establish, which makes her writing a valuable dialogue partner. I write about sensitisation as a specific form of activation, the origins of which can be somewhat traced back to reading Timothy Morton’s Hyperobjects. I frame (invitation) to be sensitized within my artistic path, using as examples two of my other works where the performer-activator position appears, reflecting on the gradual development of the concept. Non-human elements constitute an important part of the performativity in (invitation) to be sensitized. I explore the formation of co-performerships, which I facilitate with non-human elements in the solo. I study Mette Ingvartsen’s writings on Artificial Nature Project and Jane Bennett’s Vibrant Matter when discussing agency, and examine how the presence of non-human performers can be beneficial in a wider context. I choose to look closer at sound and smoke as performers in my solo and entities in other artists’ works, and at the performative relationship between water and lights. I open up the ways in which I activated myself to write this thesis. I mention Bryana Fritz’s Submission Submission as another resonance to my work; I recognise in it elements of the performer as activator concept. Overall, I infuse the text with linguistic reflections. I comment on the friction that I experience when it comes to choosing words, locate the relationship between language and agency as well as interrogate how the contexts in which artworks are created influence both the experiencer’s perception of them and the titles that the elements in them are given.