pouya nekouei
The realm of the Body expressed in Performing Arts
Assignment Three for Individual Self
The human body as a site has been constantly at the heart of action and hence speculation. The body has been so far the greatest artifact of the species. I call the human body an artifact in relation to the modification that the humans have historically carried out in the site that is the human body. The immediate response of anyone who reads this would be to question me about the entity that is involved in effecting these modifications/transformations and why I consider this entity as separate from the body. This question will conveniently bring us to the issue which has been discussed for over two millennia, the issue the individual self.
The most popular Western Tradition is the one popularized by Descartes in the form of a dualistic relationship between the body and the mind where the mind is immortal. The ancient Indian tradition while offering a variety of conceptualizations is in some ways limited by a dogmatic and teleological interest in Karma and Rebirth. It is not in the interest of this paper to take sides in this philosophical debate of the constituents of the self or clarify the various positions that exist. Rather the aim of this paper is to look at the diverse ways in which the human body has been represented and how these representations have been interpreted by various subjects.
Being a part of the Attakkalari India Biennial 2011 has helped me situate the problem of bodily representation on a specific platform. Unable to attend the dance performances my analysis here is motivated by the presentations and discussions between academics and artists on the various meanings communicated by the human body. The crucial distinction one must be posses while thinking about dance is that dance, as a performance is very drastically different from dancing for fun/pleasure. The focus here is not on the phenomenonological experience of dancing but rather on the phenomenonological experience of being a spectator of a dance performance. A spectator does not care how the performer feels about the performance. But is more concerned with how he/she feels after experiencing the performance.
The first presentation was by the renowned academic Howard Caygill on the work of the French artist Orlan and was an attempt to affirm her work on various levels. My ignorance of the performing arts and dance in particular allowed me to have my first meeting with Orlan. I was fascinated by the range of issues and representations she was able to achieve throughout her carrier. Orlan being a French artist is suggestive that her art can be conceptualized under the Western model of the mind and body.
What appeals to me most about the work of Orlan is her radical agenda, she was not scared of being political or voicing her opinions using powerful narratives. Orlan identifies the constraints of the body enforced by Law and Authority, she is especially critical of the Christian body and her works are openly provocative towards notions of the Christian body. The early career of Orlan is characterized by positing the natural body in the scientific roles. Shows like "Marches au ralenti" a slow motion walk in the city and "MesuRages" where she would measure the distance of a given architectural space using her body. To me both the performances provoke thought about the position; condition and role of the human body in the contemporary scientific culture that we are a part of. "MesuRages" represents to me the logical subversion of Science by indicating that the space needed by bodies is best measured by bodies rather than abstract scientific entities.
The agenda that Orlan has in mind is one of chaos; her body is used to represent disaster, vulgarity, gore or other disorienting experiences in an attempt to subvert the audience from the institutionalized notions of the body. Among her various influence, for me the most powerful is that of the carnival. Historically traced back to the ancient Greeks, the festival of Saturnalia is a