1
THE PASSAGE OF ZEPPELIN
by
Lorilee S. Garbowski
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
B.F.A., 1977
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the requirements for the
Degree of
Master of Science in Visual Studies
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
September 1982
O
Lorilee S. Garbowski 1982
The Author hereby grants to M.I.T. permission to reproduce
and to distribute publicly copies of this thesis document
in whole or in part.
Signature of Author.,
Department of Architecture
Center for Advanced Visual Studies
July 20, 1982
Certified by........................................
Otto Piene, Professor
of Visual Design
Thesis Supervisor
Accepted by...............
Nicholas Aegroponte, Chairman
Departmental Committee for Graduate Students
Rotch
OF TCHNL
Y
SEP 2 1982
LABR AR!ES
2
THE PASSAGE OF ZEPPELIN
by
Lorilee S. Garbowski
Submitted
to the Department of Architecture
on July 20,
1982, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Science in Visual Studies.
ABSTRACT
My performance work is a non-verbal presentation
derived from mythic and temporal structure. THE PASSAGE
OF ZEPPELIN is a 15 minute theatrical work deriving from
my concern with history presented as myth, temporality
and distance, and from my work as a graduate student at
the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, M.I.T.
Thesis Supervisor:
Otto Piene
Title:
Professor of Visual Design;
Director, Center for Advanced Visual Studies
2i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page............................................
1
Abstract------..................2...........................2
Spatial/Temporal Coordination.........................
3
Primary Temporal Intuition............................
6
Staging as Manipulated Time Situation.................... 7
Personal Temporal Awareness........................... 10
Aesthetic Temporal Considerations...................... 12
Artwork as Temporal Phenomenon........................ 14
Temporality as Subject Matter......................... 17
Conscious Manipulation of Time/Timing................... 19
Notes on the Genesis of My Own Work..................... 20
Performance as Myth................................... 22
The Performance PASSAGE OF ZEPPELIN...................
26
3
My interest
is
not in
philosophical
speculation,
but rather
to examine a cognitive theory of the awareness of time, which
I
then
to
propose
manipulated"
discuss
in
time
in
terms
performance.
of
The
"consciously
following
two
quotations are taken from a study on the cognition of time by
Ernst Cassirer.
theories
of
His reflections are derived from cognitive
language
development
of
based
terminology
upon
for
the
differing
time
found
levels
in
of
primitive
languages.
"The
simple
coordination
of
spatial
form
and temporal
form
that has often been attempted in epistemological inquiries,
finds
no
confirmation
that thought
in
in
language.
Language
shows
general and linguistic thought in
rather
particular
must perform an operation of a different type and one might
say of a higher dimension, in building up the representation
of time, in differentiating directions and intervals of time.
For "here"
and "there" can be subsumed much more simply and
immediately in an intuitive unity than is the case with the
temporal
factors
characterizes
"now",
these
factors
"earlier",
as
and
temporal
is
"later".
What
precisely
that
they are never, like things of objective intuition, given to
the consciousness simultaneously.
in
spatial
whole,
The units, the parts which
intuition seem to combine
here
specification
exclude
one
another:
of themselves
the
existence
into a
of
one
4
signifies
the
nonexistence
of
the
others
and
vice-versa.
Accordingly, the whole fact of the representation of time is
never contained
combination,
in
immediate
analytical
intuition;
and
synthetic
differentiation and
thought
consequently
play a larger part than in spatial representation.
elements
of
time
exist
as
such
only
because
Since the
consciousness
"runs through" them and in so doing differentiates them, this
act
of
running
through,
this
enters
"discursus"
the
into
characteristic form of the concept of time itself.
Thus the
form
as
of
appears
"being"
which we
to occupy
a
designate
far higher
as
level
succession,
of
ideality
than
time,
mere
locally determined existence."'
Cassirer finds that the cognition of space and the cognition
of
time
are
of
operations
different
each
with
analytic
necessary
for
the
and
cognition
and
other,
cognition
Spatial
types.
the
synthetic
of
time
can
are
be
thought
preclude
In very limited consciousness, temporal relations
intuition.
can
coordinated
whereas
intuitive,
processes
not
only be
apprehended,
however,
through
spatial
analogy.
This reflection on spatial/temporal analogy and the division
of
primary
categories
of
consciousness
"now"
into
and "not-now"
temporal/visual phenomena.
the
mutually
exclusive
underly my construction
of
The sensation of a personal sense
of time is necessarily a preverbal phenomenon.
I will later
5
give
examples
of
how
this
sensation
has
been
expressed
visually in performance.
"Involuntarily,
language
transposes
the
structural
relations
of time into relations of space:
Spatial
"here"
relation
of
Here
Now
Near
Far
Now
Not-now
and "there"
distance;
stand
two
to one another in
points
in
space
a
simple
are
merely
differentiated, there is in general no preferred direction in
the passage from one to the other.
two
are
points
"potentially
As spatial
co-existent"
equivalent;
a
"here",
"here" after ceasing to be such,
and
simple
to its previous
movement
form by the
can
and
transform
factors, the
in
a
sense
"there"
into
can be restored
reverse movement.
Time however
reveals, in addition to the distinction and distance between
its
elements,
proceeds.
a
unique
and
irreversible
"sense"
in
which it
The directions from past to future and from future
to past are not interchangeable - each is peculiar to itself.
But
this
where
consciousness
unique
obscure.
As
character
in
the
is
of the
intuition
limited
to
spatial
direction of
of . space,
analogies
time must
everything
-
remain
is
here
6
reduced to the simple distinction of near and far. The only
essential difference that is grasped and clearly expressed is
that
between
present
"now"
and
and
that
"not-now"
which
lies
-
between
"outside"
it.
the
immediate
This
present
should not, to be sure, be conceived as a strict mathematical
abstraction
but
as
a
psychological
"now"
encompassing
all
those contents which can be intuited as an immediate temporal
unity,
which
can
experience.
earlier
It
from
be
is
condensed
no
later,
mere
but
into
an
logical
elementary
unity
borderline,
possesses
in
itself
of
dividing
a
certain
duration, extending as far as the immediate, concrete memory.
For
this
form
consciousness
spheres:
a
"present",
of
and
primary
its
bright
and
temporal
intuition,
contents falls,
sphere,
another,
the
as
it were,
illumined
by
the
sphere;
and
dark
whole
into
two
of
the
these
two
light
between
of
basic levels, there are as yet no mediation of transition, no
shadings or degrees." 2
This
area
of
consciousness
consciousness
is
limited
described
to
spatial
by
Cassirer,
intuition
where
and
can
apprehend temporal relations only through spatial analogies,
can
be
used
"manipulated"
Cassirer
as
an
time.
maintains,
apprehended.
analogy
This
for
primary
obscure;
time
situations
temporal
"sense"
of
visually
intuition
is
not
I believe that this refers to a preverbal
is,
yet
stage
7
of development.
What I find most
that temporal content can,
intriguing,
so
remain
also
represented
on
cannot
elementary
implies
of time.
a
an
their
be
level
The
of
intuition,
conscious apprehension
"now")
possesses
itself, and which extends as
gradations of
very abstract,
This moment of intuition itself
psychological
notion
therefore, be intuited by spatial
analogy, in other words, purely visually.
time
is the
a
as
they must
however,
as
this
representative
(Cassirer calls
duration
far as immediate
it
peculiar
memory.
to
This
entire duration, or "now", is reminiscent of what is commonly
called reverie.
Using
the
staging
"manipulated"
of
time
distinctions
of
Robert
Wilson
situation,.
differing
one
levels
of
as
an
can
example
apply
time
of
a
Cassirer's
consciousness
to
illustrate its effect.
Wilson's
most
proportion
characteristic
and
scale.
disproportionate and
in
altered
scale
devices
The
inapropos
are
one
of
are
human
distortions
figure
of
is
often
to a given
situation
(chairs
Wilson's
trademarks).
The
temporal/spatial analogy is made through the slow movement of
objects,
immovable
generally of objects massive
parts
imperceptible,
of
one
scenery.
is
aware
The
of the
enough
movement
to be presumed
itself
direction
of
is
almost
motion,
but
8
the process of motion is so attenuated that one cannot focus
consciously on it.
The subtly changing spatial relationships
define
state
a
temporal
unique
Impossible
to
relate
reverie
the
spectator involved
of
relationships
is
to
very
any
similar
to
the
staged
physical
to
situation.
"clock"
time,
in viewing these
the
psychological
the
changing
"now"
of
stages
of
Cassirer's definition of primitive consciousness.
Cassirer
gives
a
in
development
break-down
temporal
development from the
of
the
different
cognition:
feeling to the
"In
general,
concept of
time
the
reveals
three different stages, which are also of crucial importance
for the
linguistic reflection of the consciousness of time.
At
first
the
opposition
further
of
stage
the
consciousness
"now"
and
"not-now",
differentiations;
"forms"
-
action
-
completed
begin
at
the
be
which
has
so
the
no
temporal
and momentary,
that
developed;
by
undergone
certain
continued
distinguished
distinction of temporal modes is
dominated
second,
and incompleted,
to
is
the
a
definite
final stage
is characterized by the pure concept of time as an abstract
concept of order, and the various stages of time stand out in
their contrast and interdetermination. " 3
The
fully
consciousness
developed
of
consciousness,
scientific
cognition,
particularly
does
not
the
content
9
itself with this simple opposition of "now"
raises
it
abundant
to
its
richest
gradations
temporal
order
position.
of
in
logical
time,
which
and "not-now" but
development.
all
encompassed
every
moment
It
particularly
is
of
and
rather
causal
effect
succession
into
the
The
must
transformed
dependence
be
simple
between
permeated
a
work
of
inference.
which
events.
must
a
its
unitary
specific
Epistemological analysis shows that this order is
intuition.
be
in
has
not "given" by sensation and cannot be derived
cause
It produces
of
a
into
the
them,
of
as
the
mere
a
of
a
form of
function
category
of
intuition
of
temporal
separate
concept
time
the
the
of
-
understanding
is
unitary
distinction
with
It
transforms
idea
the
from immediate
order
of
points
in
mutual
dynamic
pure
time
intuition
causal
judgement,
before this idea can be developed and stabilized, before the
immediate
feeling
of
systematic
concept
of
time
time
can
as
be
a
transformed
condition
and
into
content
the
of
knowledge. "4
The
enrichment
sophisticated
"now" ,
temporal
"not-now";
continued
of
of
time
capacity
the
and momentary
within
for
a
consciousness
awareness
distinction
action;
unitary
causal
from
follows
of
primitive
defined
complete,
to
stages:
incomplete,
the awareness of gradations
temporal
inference.
order;
leading
These
stages
to
the
can
be
10
translated visually,
stage
of
indeed,
distinction
Discontinuous
perceives
as
with
visual
are
what
a
normal time,
examples
theatrical
fully
of
the
third
stock-in-trade.
developed
consciousness
"staged" or "manipulated"
time is
the product of a long tradition of illusionistic conventions:
the
"flashback"
calendar
being
of memory or
dream
pages rapidly succeeding
blown
gradual,
across
visible
examples
of
the
"aging"
the
sequences;
shot of
each other and as quickly
newsroom
floor
through
make-up
myriad
the
theatrical
by
the
wind;
effects;
conventions
the
are
all
instantly
recognizeable as the passage of time.
Opposed to a representation of "time"
time,
My
is the
thoughts
passing,
or historical
sensation or awareness of the present moment.
stem
from
an
interest
in
the
phenomenon
of
personal time; that is, an awareness of the sensation of the
passage
The
of time by an individual.
sensation"
is
well
illustrated
in
the
from the Polish poet, Czeslaw Milosz:
was difficult to get used to.
an
acute
recurrence
figure
disturbance
one's
following
of,
quotation
"All the same, America
of my old sickness, which
in any psychiatric
in
"awareness
My circumstances brought about
suffered from even in high school.
not
term
have
As far as I know, it does
handbook.
perception
I may
of
It
time.
consists of
The
sick
constantly sees time as an hourglass through which states,
a
man
11
systems, and civilizations trickle like sand;
his
immediate
surroundings lose the force of reality; they do not last at
all, they disintegrate; in other words; being is unreal, only
movement is real.
Those who plant flowers, till the fields,
build houses are deserving of pity because they are seen as
participants in a phantasmagoric
are
no
more
windows
at
real
than
night
and
to
spectacle, and to him they
a demon
peeks
who
through
flies
the
up
pane.
to
their
They
are
fore-doomed because the order in which they have established
themselves and which shapes their every thought and feeling
is, like every order, ripe for destruction." 5
The effect of the sensation described by Milosz so succintly
"...being
is
transferable
unreal,
temporal
the
work.
secondary
either
movement
is
dance) upon both
order
The
is
a
given,
gradations
level
of
is
violently
pursued
spectator and
the
of
duration,
revelatory position;
time
are
and
length
within
literally
frozen,
the attitude
of
the
time
and
conducive to reverie
immersion
in
performer.
of duration
the
relative.
towards time virtually manipulates time.
"normal"
real"
to describe the effect of a temporal art form
(theater, music,
The
only
or
of
piece,
the
Instants
are
coaxed
individual
into
artist
This suspension of
"manipulated"
time
is
(loss of self within the moment) and is
a basic condition of temporal art forms.
12
The
American
theory
pragmatist
of
artistic
philosopher
creativity
John
Dewey
derived
developed
from
a
ordinary
experience.
His aesthetics is based on the natural tendency
of
in
a
being
nature
to
move
toward
equilibrium
ordered relationship with the environment.
organism
does
the
shares
it secure
an
"For only when an
in the ordered relations of its environment
the stability essential to
participation
conflict,
and
comes
after
a
phase
living.
of
And when
disruption
and
it bears within itself the germs of a consummation
akin to the aesthetic." 6
Being is
then
a search
for
stability in a universe in
flux
and those moments of regained unity provide the individual an
enjoyment
termed
aesthetic.
What
makes
Dewey's
theory
so
instructive for my purposes is that his is a temporal theory;
in
his worldview,
the
universe
stasis
itself
is
relationship of stasis.
the
basis
of
with growth
rhythm
of
life.
as
the
is momentary
a continuously
Movement,
Time,
Dewey's
organizational
change.
of
stasis
ever-recurring
developing temporary
terms,
He
develops
is
synonomous
explains
how
loss of
the
from purpose,
emotion, and ultimately to their artistic perpetuation:
rhythm of
-
change and rhythm are then
in
periods
but
to
"The
integration with environment and recovery
of union not only persists in man but becomes conscious with
him;
its
conditions are material out of which he forms
13
purposes.
or
Emotion is
impending.
reflection.
mere
Desire
emotion
realization
reflection
Since
The
into
of
is
the
conscious
discord
for
is
sian
the
harmony.
in
With
incorporated
into
of
the
objects
the
break, actual
occasion
restoration
interest
of a
that
union
as
converts
conditions
realization,
objects
induces
as
of
material
their
of
meaning.
the artist cares in a particular way for the phase of
experience
moments
them,
in
of
which
union
resistance
not
for
potentialities,
is
and
their
tension.
own
bringing
achieved,
sake
to
he
He
but
does
rather
because
living
not
shun
cultivates
of
their
consciousness
an
experience that is unified and total. "7
The word alive implies existence here and now, when the past,
present
and
individual.
Dewey's
future
integrated
This temporal
definition
intensity
are
the
integration is
of art:
moments
in
comfortably
the
"Art celebrates
which
the
past
in
an
foundation of
with particular,
reenforces
the
present and in which the future is a quickening of what now
is."8
This
temporal
cycle
patterned spatially.
of
ordered
change,
of
rhythm,
may
be
That it may be patterned aurally is, of
course, obvious.
I would like to present some thoughts on a
temporal
not the
theater;
"theater"
per
se,
but performances
14
whose
concerns
are
an
properties
of
performances
present
awareness
temporal
say reified) time.
of
dramatic
the
physical
phenomena.
states
Some
of objectified
(visual)
theatrical
(one might even
The performances of Robert Wilson, Robert
Whitman and Lucinda Childs are
scale
of
objects,
cyclical
variations
in
some examples.
repetitions
staged
of
"time"
Contrast
actions
which
in
and
create
extra-temporal states of performance are some of the devices
used to produce a marked alteration in the viewer's sense of
time.
Staged time refers
imposed upon
to the delimitations of
duration
staged actions by the director or actor.
visual manipulation
of this "sense
of
timing"
The
with minimum
verbal exchange is one of the most striking achievements of
this
type of performance.
Although
(in
the case
of Childs
and Wilson) dependent as well upon the psychological effect
of
cyclical
process
alteration
of
time)
visual
the
music
recognizable
displays
(the
methodic
and
rhythm patterns over
of
these
artists
a
gradual
span of
function
as
powerful spatial presentations of temporal changes in state.
George
Kubler,
in
The
Shape
of
Time
elucidates
several
fundamental considerations of an art historian's concern with
a work of
art as a time-related phenomenon.
specifically
treats
the
artifact(s)
as
I believe he
ontologically
representative of history, beyond their own socio/historical
15
context.
Rather
than
underlying
elaborate
critique
of
a
art
system
of
classification
historical
cataloguing
(an
of works
into early, classic, late and decadent developmental phases
is
implicit
in
his
book),
Kubler
attempts
to
broaden
the
field of inquiry to the question of actuality, duration and
historical
distance.
He
defines
the
realm
of
art
works:
"Artistic inventions alter the sensibility of mankind.
They
all emerge from and return to human perception, unlike useful
inventions, which are keyed to the physical and biological
environment.
by
altering
Useful inventions alter mankind only indirectly
his
human awareness
environment;
aesthetic
inventions
enlarge
directly with .new ways of experiencing
the
universe, rather than with new objective interpretations".9
He illustrates
the dilemma of an historian,
investigator
of
what was once actuality, without a vocabulary or methodology
equipped to analyze temporal content.
"The
difficulty
with
delimiting
the
categories
of time
has
always been to find a suitable description of duration which
would vary according to events while measuring them against a
fixed scale.
History has no periodic table of elements, and
no classification of types or species; it has only solar time
16
and
a
few
temporal
argues,
old
ways
of
grouping
structure."10
is
The
necessary
events,
but
description
because:
"the
no
of
theory
duration,
figures
and
of
he
shapes
described by the history of things are... so distinctive that
one asks whether artifacts do not possess a specific sort of
duration,
occupying time differently
from the
animal beings
of biology and the natural materials of physics." 1
While he offers no
suggest
ways
in
specific definition of
which
it
could
be
duration, he does
measured:
"Because
duration can be measured by the two standards of absolute age
and
systematic
age,
historic
time
seems
to
be
composed of
many envelopes, in addition to being mere flow from future to
past
through
different
the
present.
contours
in
the
These
envelopes, which
sense
that
they
are
all have
durations
defined by their contents, can be grouped easily by large and
small families of shapes.
diminutive
We are not concerned now with the
shapes of personal time,
observe in his
although each of us can
own existence the presence of
such patterns,
composed of early and late versions of the same action.
extend through
of
a
few
Our main
all
seconds
individual experience
duration
interest here
is
to
the
in the
span
from
of
the
the
structure
entire
shapes and forms
They
life.
of those
durations which either are longer than single human lives, or
which require
durations.',12
the time of more than one person
as collective
17
Kubler's definition of the field of inquiry, then, would seem
inappropriate
from
for
the
it
in
the
development
has
been
context
of
contemporary
of photography
marked
by
an
to
the
art
history,
present
ever-increasing
moment,
interest
in
precisely those personal shades of time left apart from what
he
feels
to
be
consideration,
peculiar
the
"higher"
the
order
of
things.
interpretation
of
the
to the art works themselves,
some contemporary art historians.
John
Berger
on
the
This
area of
temporal
content
has been attempted by
The following comments by
photographs
of
Don
McCullin
and
Paul
Strand are written from this perspective.
"McCullins most typical photographs
agony -
are
in
reality
utterly
discontinuous
all
isolates
the
with
These
normal
It is the knowledge that such moments are probable and
the anticipation of them which makes "time"
unlike
sudden moments of
a terror, a wounding, a death, a cry of grief.
moments
time.
record
other
a moment of
experience
trigger,
experiences
of
agony
of
time.
isolates
The
no more
that
moment
isolates
to
rifle
and
applied
in
the front line,
camera
violently than
itself.
camera,
which
The
word
reflects
a
correspondence which does not stop at the purely mechanical.
The
image
violences
seized
by
the
reinforce the
camera
is
doubly violent
same contrast,
and both
the contrast between
the photographed moment and all others." 1 3
18
Berger comes close to a definition of actuality vs. duration
in his discussion of the work of Paul Strand.
a photographer
is more unusual.
One
could
"His method as
say
that
it was
the antithesis to Henri Cartier-Bresson's.
The photographic
moment
a
for
Cartier-Bresson
second, and he stalks
animal.
is
an
instant,
fraction
of
a
that instant as though it were a wild
The photographic moment for Strand is abiographical
or historic moment, whose duration is ideally measured not by
seconds but by it's relation to a lifetime.
pursue
an
instant, but encourages
a moment to
might encourage a story to be told. "
attitude
towards
photographs:
"being"
"...the
Strand does not
which
arise
as one
Berger elaborates the
he
in
sees
Strand's
present tense of the verb to be refers
only to the present; but nevertheless, with the first person
singular
in
inseparable
made me so.
front
from
of
the
it,
it
pronoun.
absorbs
I
am
the
past
includes
all
which
that has
It is more than a statement of immediate
fact;
it is already an explanation, a justification, a demand is
already
convey
a
autobiographical...his
unique
time in which to
future;
I am;
sense
of
duration.
(Strand's)
The
reflect on the past and
is
it
photographs
I am is
given
its
to anticipate
its
the exposure time does no violence to the time of the
on the
contrary,
one has
the
the exposure time is the lifetime. "15
strange
impression that
19
A
further
case
for
the
conscious and deliberate)
the
writings
of
J.
manipulation
(in
this
of tire by the artist
Burnham.
It
is
is
instance
taken from
predicated
on
a
structurally transparent system of art history and criticism;
simplified
here
transgressions
which
almost
the
illusion
transgressions
disruptions
"game
rules".
are based on literary and plastic
perpetuate
historical
to
subverting
the
of
are
"Formal
innovations
historical
essentially
temporal
myth of
change;
structural
art;
that
is,
they destroy the illusion that art progresses from one style
to the next through time.
Marcel
Duchamp's
term,
formal transgressions.
Historical transgressions, to use
"short-circuit"
the
evolution
of
And quite obviously, Duchamp was the
first artist to employ historical transgressions as a matter
of
strategy.
common
is
Here there
the
production
are
several
of works
approaches;
which
are
far
the most
ahead of
their time historically and remain unexplained, that is, the
ready-mades again.
of the art myth,
deliberate
Another
Art may also transgress various barriers
for instance art which is art through its
non-uniqueness,
example
would
be
or
dialectical
works
which
use of seriality.
focus
on
the
time
element but in such a way that time is negated or reduced to
a finite duration.
(It
works of art function
16
never as events.)"
must be remerbered
that mythically,
only as points on the time continuum,
20
I question the simplification of the argument:
works ahead of their
of
the
entire
time" assumes
temporal
system
an a priori
and
its
The mechanism by which an
artist may
temporal
closed
effect
within
a
interesting speculation.
the
situation
immersion
in
in
a
a
later
continuous
mobilizing
say,
is
art
contextual
"trigger"
to
predictable
future.
successfully calculate
system
essay:
The art object
promoting
comprehension
nevertheless
is,
the
becomes
flow
of
communicated
in effect, an
information
"temporal
information
cycle.
Making,
and buying art are real time activities.
they
experience.
happen
"Only
within
Art
an
Burnham elaborated the mechanics of
experiences."
for
"Production of
the
day-to-day
Appreciation
flow
happens
That is
of
in
normal
ideal,
nonexistential time." 17
Notes on the genesis of my own work
The words
"theater" and "performance"
definition.
pose today problems of
While it is not within my objectives to clarify
these boundaries,
I would like to offer some speculations
on
performance and myth.
"I
am a bit
experimental
be that
impatient when asked,
theater
"experimental"
'What
productions?'
work is
tangential
The
is
the origin of your
assumption
seems
(toying with
some
to
21
"new"
technique
each
time)
and
tributary.
The
supposed to be a contribution to modern staging using
current
music,
actors
sculptural
or
independently
ideas,
electronic
projecting
result
is
scenography
contemporary
clownish
or
cabaret
stereotypes." 18
the theater?
"What is
unique about it?
What is
do that film and television cannot?
What can it
Two concrete conceptions
the poor theater; and performance as an act of
19
crystallized:
transgression."
Grotowski would surely accuse my work of "artistic
While Mr.
kleptomania" for integrating borrowed mechanisms from what he
foreign
considers
elements),
assimilated
I
projections
movie
(i.e.
media
find
his
that
and
exposition
other
of
the
actor's performance as an act of transgression serves also to
contextualize some aspects of performance art.
In
his
search
essential
theater
basis
to
which
of
to
define
theater,
he
in
Grotowski
is
his
communion."
20
theatrical
trappings
then
terms
eliminated
found
a
unique
and
all
elements
of
The
existential
characteristics
superfluous.
considered
theater
relationship,
those
in
the
"perceptual,
actor-spectator
direct,
'live'
Stage, lighting, plot, costume and the other
are
found
to be
secondary,
expendable
22
"tricks".
This
"real
real
it
recent
theory
so
art
performance
In
years.
of
an
of
performance
art.
artists
laying
the
some
the
of
(I
refer
to
made
of
"holy"
to
of
proponents
performance work who produced sacrosanct, ritualistic
"In this
work, at times pushed to self-martyrdom.)
a
strikingly
is
early
in
his
outlines
purported
those
has
foundations
which
motives
call
audiences
and
Grotowski
actor",
relationship
performer-audience
reminiscent
essay
"holy
the
to
attractive
might
what
is
communication)
time"
videot
(a
communion"
"perceptual
'body'
struggle
with one's own truth, this effort to peel off the life-mask,
the theater, with its
seemed
to
a
me
challenging
place
itself
and
full-fleshed perceptivity, has always
of
its
It
provocation.
audience
by
is
capable
violating
stereotypes of vision, feeling, and judgement -
of
accepted
more jarring
because it is imaged in the human organism's breath, body and
inner impulses.
provides the
give
This defiance of taboo, this transgression,
shock which rips
ourselves
nakedly to
off
the mask,
something which
is
enabling us
to
impossible
to
define but which contains Eros and Caritas. "21
Defiance of taboo necessarily implies myth, as taboo is born
of mythologising perception; performance work then finds its
origins in individuated response to myth.
and
function
of
modern
theatrical/mythic
What is the nature
incarnation?
From
23
tribal
catharsis
theatrical
individual
and
formative
a
been
has
tool
dissolution
The
awareness.
film)
documentary
(including
theater
"problem"
moral
to modern
leading
passion play
to medieval
ceremony
for
societal
of
societal
boundaries once defined by religious necessity dissolved much
the
of
its
traditional basis
(aside
argue, not
to
proposed
mysteries
luxurious
and
(Foreman);
splendors
Whitman),
of
theatres
actors):
"holy"
from
has
history
theatrical
Recent
need.
I would
for myth, but,
us
(Wilson,
bizarrities
(Ludlam).
My piece
is
tableaux,
composed of discrete
which then recombine themselves.
the elements of
Movement, of the props and
of the performers, is used as a link between music and image
-
this
by
I mean
that
movement
the
translates
is
or
the
transitory medium between sound and image; that the movement,
gradual and controlled,
is a visual
state between sound and,
image.
This
type
of performance exists
the immediate present.
of
consciousness
"not-now",
performed
are.
To
give
an
special
span of
time:
Corresponding to the primitive state
described
the performer is
represent
in a
Cassirer
not "miming"
other
nothing
example,
by
a
than
performer
of
actions,
what
"now"l
the actions
they
drinking
and
a
actually
glass of
24
water on stage performs the act for its physical and not its
significative content;
a
not
The
symbolic.
where
performance
action
various
(multi-media)
presented
are
action
of
perspectives
In
own meaning.
its
is
alone
and
self-justifying
is
the action
he is not pretending or making as if,
this
It
demands a constant refocusing on the part of the viewer.
is a matter of subjective choice where the viewer gives his
attention, his essential experience is that of an open-ended,
somewhat
random
respect
to
each viewer
as
subjective,
different
are
interpretation
and
actions,
will
focus
attention
his/her
lengths
with
necessity
of
therefore
different
for
drawn
associations
Any
presentation.
time.
of
on
The
actions then serve to sharpen our awareness of the passage of
time, through a confrontation that can also be experiences as
boring
or
a
performance,
sense
being
of
lack
of
characterized
continuity.
by
flow
This
type
of
progression,
and
that is no well-defined subsections and no defined plot would
indeed
seem to negate meaningfulness.
It is,
however, this
confrontation with self and being measured against a constant
flow
(the performance) that
is the basis
for the perception
of the individual self as a temporary phenomenon.
My discussion has taken me from a small exposition of a basic
formulation
of
temporal
cognition,
through
a
temporal
aesthetic theory, to the beginnings of a discussion about the
25
role
I
performance/myth.
of
the
for
whatsoever
take
I
views
do
or
I
present.
"One should not make
art.
field of
not the
Art is
It is the experience which we take upon
science.
source of
the
in
speculations
objectivity
opinions
the
Again, in the words of Jerzy Grotowski:
too many
any
claim
not
ourselves when we open ourselves to others, when we confront
ourselves with them in order to understand ourselves the
sense of re-creating
scientific
not in
the context of an epoch
And in the
in history, but in an elementary and human sense.
long procession of suffering mothers it is not the historical
Of course, the past is
context of Niobe which interests us.
present
inasmuch
voice.
It
mother
over
her
constitutes
difference
we
if
and
try
then
it,
accentuate
can
we
doubtless
is
weeping
hidden,
as
rather
and
hear
still
at
we
separate
lose
of
the
everything
It
context.
underline
to
it,
this
and
Auschwitz,
the whole historical
to
its
from that
different
children
understand
it
is
and
artistic,
since
experience is an open and direct one." 22
This
is
not
one's
explaining
of
a
certain
presentation
disclaimer
thoughts
limitations
and
from
the
intentions,
which
spring
of non-verbal material.
responsibility
but
from
an
of
acceptance
the
verbal
All of this is done to
satisfy the request for rational explanation of an irrational
process.
To say a few words about the genesis of the piece,
26
method
my most effective working
sometimes
and bounds,
leaps
in
is
Progress
of blank paper.
a sheet
before
reverie,
is
backwards, and never measurable against a given outcome.
The Performance Passage of Zeppelin
The
and
gesture,
a
or
alternative
when
one
itself
as
realm
of
attractive
an
isolate
to
seeking
is
The
is
consciousness
dream
dream-state
in
coherent
action.
dream-state
state,
evocative
an
is
piece
this
in
both as real action,
to exist
intended
a
present
temporal
and
utilize
a
state of consciousness that is at once comprehensible to the
viewer
a
as
commonplace
place
unreal
fantastic,
dreams.
everyone
as
occurence,
yet
and
an
entirely
The
physical
setting is the workings of the Zeppelin; repetitive action is
present for the integrity of the gesture itself, and also as
a metaphor for actual maneouvres used in flying airships.
In
choosing
piece,
I
tried
to have
and
positions
characters,
have
elements
all
an
the
for
movements
logic of
inner
their own, i.e. they made sense in the context of performance
and
in
the
historical metaphors.
metaphorical
between
live
of
continuity
and
the
I tried
literal
and mediated
piece,
as
well
as
being
to achieve a balance between
meaning
imagery.
of
an
The
action,
film
image
and
and
also
the
27
The
tandem.
in
work
to
meant
are
performance
live
piece
is composed of images relating to aspects of Zeppelin flight:
is
basically
a
and
is
movement
continuity
piece,
visual
Images
non-verbal.
It
personages.
procedures,
involved,
of the machinery
some
dependent
is
realised
on
from the
come
Individual characters
film, music and text are pre-recorded.
are recognizeable, Dr. Eckener, the widow, the navigator, the
balance
operator,
should
not
any
on
the
of
audience
with
aspect
individual
over any other, however, but a state of reverie
with
induced,
be
attention
The
cook.
focused
be
predominance
should
the
images
the
between
associations
gradually leading to a personal interpretation of "story".
be
should
There
begun,
once
alterable
direction.
by
feeling
a
their
duration
abrupt
starts
of
Each
the
about
continuum
of
could
and
changes
functions
performed
actions,
this
infinite,
be
stops,
the
is
in momentum,
entirely
is
self-contained.
audience
The
enters
the
prepared
space,
performance
a
scaffolding, a mock-up of a Zeppelin body and nose, and some
lines
suggestive of the rigging of the airship are visible.
After the audience
slowly
the
through the
scaffolding,
gloves,
has taken its
door of
the
place,
Zeppelin.
they put on various
apron, hats,
the performers
crew sweaters.
As
fragments
They
they
of
enter
approach
"costume",
take their places
28
on the
starts.
Hindenburg
the
scaffolding is representative
crew on the
The action of the
of
film
and the
scaffolding,
of the constant motions needed in order to keep the Zeppelin
the balance operator is a sort of perpetual motion
in flight:
original function was to keep the airship
machine, whose
and
the
course
is
constantly
cook
The captain walks through the entire space,
preparing food.
takes
He
activities.
surveying
The
readings.
directional
taking
constantly plotting
is
navigator
The
trim.
in
from
letters
his
pockets,
The actions of the performers
walks back to the scaffolding.
on the airship are equivalent to a sort of drone, an endless
is
It
repetition.
important
that
the
performed be
actions
both abstract and narrative, to contribute to the atmosphere
of the piece,
film
yet not
the
details
shown
to be mimed or
emoted gestures.
life-span
entire
of
Zeppelin
the
Hindenburg, from its construction to its demise.
The
Compiled of
original newsreel footage, it is combined with an audio track
which I composed of sound material dating from the 1920's and
30's.
After the performers have entered,
top
section
section
of
scaffolding,
section,
and
the
back
of
the
balance
navigator
the
section of the platform.
the Captain climbs up to
operator
to
middle
onto
the
lowest
gets
The balance operator walks across
balance
beam
space,
arranges
weights
29
evoking the trim of the
of
the
the map,
on
ship
ship.
The navigator plots direction
notes
calculations
his
in
log
the
book, takes readings, notes his calculations each time.
The
The
down
climbs
captain
space,
through the back platform of the balance
of
activity
navigator,
the
of
level
the
verifies
walks
up to
letters,
slowly
pocket,
his
the
in
the
the
throughout
to
the
the
log
scaffolding
and
reads
the
the audience,
scaffolding.
to the
and returns
ambulating
slowly
near
rigging lines
notations
of
out
climbs
down
He takes some letters
book,, makes a signal on the telegraph.
from
surveys the
climbs
He
operator.
balance
the
walks
section,
top
the
from
up and
swaying it
operator climbs the balance beam and starts
down.
balance
the
repeating,
cyclically
continues
action
The cook has been
performance
space,
making
quick hand gestures imitating the motions of cooking.
As the
also
slowly
works
his
widow appears
goodbye
walks
out
way
on
gesture.
slowly
scaffolding,
the
to
returns
captain
of
the
She
forwards
stairway,
comes
to
space.
The
slowly waving her hand
in a
central
the
down
the
cook
the
performance
the
to
stairs
audience,
raises
the
her
bottom,
hands,
gloved with long, red gloves, palms facing the audience, and
slowly traverses the space with arms raised.
until
she
gets
near
the
rigging,
remains
She walks back
standing.
This
action coincides with the explosion of the Hindenburg, which
30
on
plays
move
and
ground
the
touched
wall.
back
the
slowly until
turning
again,
ship
has
to
the widow starts
itself,
consumed
the
of
body
the
After
gets to
she
of
the middle
the performance space and then, using a pushing motion of the
arms,
slowly
walks
backwards
exits
cook
as
out
of
the
space.
is
backing
widow
the
Wiping
his
of
the
out
apron,
the
space.
After the end of the film, the crew stands in place
without
moving,
shedding
the
then
all
they
scaffolding,
the
descend
they had put on at
elements of clothing which
the beginning of the piece.
The audio material is contemporary with the Zeppelin period,
except
for a
acoustics
translation of
of the
available
a
speech
performance
by
Dr.
space,
Eckener.
a
very
The
"live"
space with exaggerated echo, presented a problem, as delicate
audio
effects
composed of a
were
layered
with contemporary
virtually
collage of
impossible.
The
tape
is
looped voices interspersed.
(1927 - 45) songs.
31
FOOTNOTES
1.
Cassirer, Ernst. The Philosophy of Symbolic Form.
(pp 215-216) Yale University Press 1967
2.
Op.
3.
Ibid.
4.
Ibid.
5.
Milosz, Czeslaw.
Cit.
(p 217)
(p 218)
(p 218)
UCLA Press,
Native Realm. (pp 261-262)
Berkeley
1981
6.
Dewey, John.
Art as Experience.
Books, New York 1958
7.
Op. Cit. (p 23).
"Time as organization in change is
growth, and growth signifies that a varied series of
change enters upon intervals of pause and rest;
of
completions that become the initial
points of new
processes of development."
8.
Ibid.
9.
The Shape of Time.
Kubler, George.
versity Press 1962
10.
Op. Cit. (p 96)
11.
Ibid.
12.
Ibid.
13.
Berger, John. About Looking.
New York, 1980
14.
Op. Cit.
15.
Ibid.
16.
The Structure of Art.
Burnham, Jack.
Braziller, Inc. New York, 1971, 1973
(p
15)
Capricorn
(p 15)
(p 65)
Yale Uni-
(p 83)
(p 99)
(p
39)
Pantheon Books
(p 43)
(p 47)
(p 46)
George
32
17.
Burnham,
(pp 49 -
Jack.
"Real Time Systems". Artforum.
55) September 1969
18.
Grotowski, Jerzy. Towards a Poor Theater.
Simon and Schuster, New York 1968
19.
Op. Cit.
20.
Ibid.
(p 19)
21.
Ibid.
(p 19)
22.
Ibid.
(p 22)
(p 19)
(p 59)