Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • DNA of Performance Taylor

    Uploaded by

    Gianna Marie Ayora
    8 views15 pages

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    8 views15 pages

    DNA of Performance Taylor

    Uploaded by

    Gianna Marie Ayora

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 15
    ua of Performance: Political Hauntology DIANA TAYLOR "Memory perp acta phenomena ond ying tthe presen,” Pierre Nora writes ia “Detween Memory and History: Les ‘de Memnire” Is afeiv power begs ws filly ino the here and 5 Edouard Caparee observed in rg, “It is imposible to fel 28 past" Trauma an postraumaticstres pariculsy make thems fon and though the body long afer the iia Mow has pase,‘ ecurns with its emotional punch, through invokuntary behaviors, tucks, and nightmares. The past ovis ul free, a preset. The ‘characterizes wauma, which ialvaysrexperenced viserally 8 com stat of agin ns Performance proves vital t uma’ understanding of trauma and: ‘memory in par because it fonctions through a similar pres of rite ‘embodied bekivor. Although not involuntary, perormance dacs restored and in Richard Schechners wor, wice-tehsred behavior rama iis characterized bythe nature ofits repests “Performance never fo the firs time” Tt oo makes self fle ciel and visser the present, eapcuring both the comtnt (the dramatic traumas core the now-nes of ectivaton. This, performance can transmit the nd the alway. the present experiance of traumatic memes Another connection: performance and memory rely on context or ing. none sens, they're alvay in sie, What Maurice Halbwachs shout nemery apy applies to peformance: "No memory is possible ou frameworks used by people living in seey to determine ad retrieve recollections." Each intervenes in the indivi /pobitical/ socal ody puticalr moment and reflects specifi ears, ansitie, or values: When context changes, they change, establishing anew specify. The far recontextualization and tensmision, i performance and of tau memory nonetheless pints to an important diference, Far performance ‘Sehechne paints out, “havior separate rom those who are behaving, Eee Oc prt as cy rene cng _ Searle error ee ee _ieapeeeriiaemeyterey enero ae Be ee ec pubic and collective Toes of performance staies It might be belpil 10 ‘hk bout the overaps a thre cancentri ele, bound by performance dramatic repeat. ‘Ae the very center ofthese circles, the individual experiences tums as eral and seetesive—springing fom and sired buck a the seas snot erfemance 53 nightmares, fasbbacks, and othe fr of emosional and physica tion. ‘Trauma makes evident that memory is stored inthe body not visual memory or as writen imei, but also as hnetie funtion, ‘stm of tauma spoke wth bepen to shake uncontrolbly wheneree wes an unexpected knock atthe door, Trauma makes il? fl tembodied end as present. On tht sl eflesve level, the indivi setexpressortur de tauma outward Inthe second ctl, the ves of trauma reaches out 0 thera witness. The ig structed performance plays an important role ‘wansmission of traumatic memory Performance, unlike drama, doo ‘connote mimetic representation bu, onthe contrary, reson proces mology pafurnr, meaning to cary tinaphtrnghy. The ling recling offer victims «way of coping. Tat eareying throagh—the tne bearing winess—is ecomplished though he physic, ve eco ‘etm an listenee The tling and reteling constitute «performance, dertod as reiterate twic-behuvd behavior. Ths trauma can comel ite only through performance. Conversely scholars have long argued Peformance, here understond mre naroely as eataric performs ‘tual, comes nto Being a healing practice, Accuring to sme thea Greck theater at Epdaurus was oigially a pac of healing, And wt ‘hari bathe purging of noxious ements fom the individu and toy? Trauma and cathartic performance, so mattally bound up in igns ao share thei end. If the dsurbance or trauma were 10 cathartic performance would become unneceisiry and, hypothetical, (On tbe third level, honever, there i an enabling sift in pesform ‘modes that allows sone victims of trauma to move out of the repetitive ‘oF (2) reliving the pain and (2) repeatedly testifying to enter (3) the ‘estat and no less reiteratve, phase of performance protest, Cath iterative performances of sorrow and protest, such a the weekly mata of che Madees dela Plaza de My help the victims deme deal wi unspeakable les. But by maving beyond the two crcles of india and pathology outlined above; they use the tsuma to fuel thei pli activism. They have conbted to human rights efforts by succes transiting traumatic memory fom one generation toanather and ra Anretine polit conzext wo an international pubic hat di not ive 4 Disa Talor a. Forte in cei ndimepeeet a rene ee eS ee ae cae oni that Holocaust arity Gee and ak tala to afr greater numer of peopl than ay te avin permits But the rin recaprre i not the reiterate repeat of ‘ier tsa oF performance, bu exter a transfer into the archive—a df= ferent economy of trage and represevstion, In shi ase, a5 Peggy Phelan fos eomocinglyarsucd che lie exchange cannot be stored. It becomes enti et. The replay wil always be te same a record ofan earlier Meomeat, a: anterior usterance that efrozen fir posterior use® Iam not oegesing thatthe transnksion of taumatc memory happens onl in the fe encounter, a this esay makes lear However, Ido want dtnguish ‘eveen diferent, though intertwined, systems of knowledge—e archival dhe erbodie-tha participate in distinct ways inthe transmission of sos meno "Tsionial transfers andl performance protest ae two forms of expres sive sil beavior that belong to dhe iseursve workings of what Ihave Caled the repertie. The repertoire stores emboied memory—the rau- tic shud, gestares, oats, ovement, dance, singing—in short all those acs usally thought of af ephemera, nonrepraductte knowede Archival memory, onthe other hand, mintins what pereived as ast {ng correcrds, actments, photographs, erry texts, police fs, dig ‘al materials, archasologcl romain, bones -seppesedly resist to change police! manipulation. Whar changes over time, the archive clams, inthe value, rleance or meaning oF che remains, how they get inte etd, even embodied. n-betmcen and overlapping stems of Knowledge sd memory cnstite a as spectrum tat might combine the workings of ‘he permanent and the ephemeral in dvergent ways. The eecognition ofthe Combed nature ofthe trautatcexperience—shethe i's the bd repos- seve the shudder othe ive tetimonilencounter—proves vital to our etormance 55 understanding of trauma, So, to, does the archival projet that stores lence and testimonies in les ermal, but more durable containers books forensic Inborstores Doth change over vie, and both are ‘to manipulution and erasure. Fach system of containing and transmis ‘node exceeds the limitations of theater, The lve can nover be ‘nine inthe achive; the archive endures hevond he init ofthe live Performance works inthe tsnsmison of socal memory, dewing ‘nd uspafrming asharedarchiveand repertoire of clara Ins «ses performance fmetions as symptom of history, par and parcel tesuma, Inher icasertsa cial Wsanceo make x li, ithe ai ing tes and connections oF denouncing attacks on socal contract ‘tuum, performance protest intrudes, unexpected and unwelcome, on social body. Is cay depends on its ait to provoke recognition ia here and sow rater than rely on pst eeolccton. I insists on py resence—one can participate only by beng there. The tansmision em ‘more than content: peeformanes ries themels havea history and ‘undergo change a the relationships of soil acs shift in relation ta rams rua In this section, T explore the ways in which performance protest helps ‘vor cope wth individual and eolecietauma by using it fuel pai denunciation, Focusing onthe highly peeformtive protests that cont tuminerrapted, vents yeasfier theofficial end of Argentina's “Dirty {study the ransmison of tesumatic meinory through performance ‘race the strategies that get passed on, efrmalated,ofrguten in mission, The protest movemen' I examine developed long clears ional ines around the disappeared: rendparens les Abel) parents Madre), and children of the disappeared, exile, and pole pio (0410.8). Justac the generations share genic atures, which thes ‘ave atively traced through DNA testing, there ae performance sta (har wll provisionally alla Dx of performance) that ink thei ot Aetna, One importan era that thes groups Aue, Made M1y.05.—see themselves a linked genetically, policy and peer trey. Here I look at various iterations of performance proses invl photography that have ken place ove he pas twenty yeas—the Al ofthe Plaza de May fg), the Madtes Bi 2), ds xrases cari oat 9 tewtee 13.08 fg 3) andan exhibit of photgraphsof Tucuman's children ofthe Tapered by flo Pani (8.4). rom 1977,almos a the beginning ofthe Dirty War the Abc nd he aires stared cling publicattenton to the dstatocehp's practice of Yis- Sparing” those who cpposed them in any way Of the thre thousand dis- ‘peued who were tortured and murdered, ten thousand were women, snd free hundred of hese women were pregnant. They were hile a son as they ge bith, heir children, bora in apis were adopted by military ones. Thre ae sil abou ve hunded of hese disappeared chile thers chilren thought tobe alive and ling with their adopted fies ‘ehomay ormaynot know about the circumstances surrounding thsi ‘The military didnot, however, usally shduct the young children oftheir gins Thess whom I wl eal children ofthe disappeared os oppose to the dsppeared children), were born before their paren disappeared and errs by eliives The Abuels hepan tracing ther dsappenred grand- hldren gently through their DN 11.0, Hke Abe, aire lok fore sling, the dsappered children Muchas the Abuess eed on ON testing to confirm the nage broken ty the milla, sey and the Madres used photo IDs as et anocher way 19 Ggalish ruth and nage This represecaional practices what wil refer that the DX of performance. This use ofthe term Di [wil argu, not Simpl metphocc, bt also fanctiona While related what Joseph Reach, in Gite of the Dead, cals “genelagies of performance” ("the bisorial teasmission and iseriaton of cultural practice through colleciverep- ‘esenatons), iin fice refers to a diferent model af ransmison. Roach Catlins the “thee sied relationship of memory, performance, and sub- stitution." He explores “how culure reproduces and re-creates ie by a ross that canst be doseribed by the word srgatiog. Inthe ile ofa conmunin, the proces of surogation does noc hein or end but continues ‘actual o perceived vacancies occu in the network of rations thet can- ‘ues the soil fe Ino the cavities crested by hs through dest or ther forms of departure. survivors tmp to fi stistactory alrna- tres” His example: "The Kings dead, long ive the King.” This proces as Iseei, implies urcowing dawn—insteadof two royal inva, we have ‘oe king The et of substitution erases the antecedent King is continuous tok that endures regardless of how many individuals come t occupy the ‘throne. ‘The model of surrogation sresses seemingly uninterrupted ‘nity aver what ght be read as ruprure, the recognizable one oes particulars ofthe many? Roach makes ear he snot proposing auniveraiing moet for thi shoat the relationship hesncn performance, memory, and surregtion, hh carefllyhistorcizes his argument fo the centrality of surrogate cultural sel Fashioning: Roach's mode, additonal llows for schol ‘ink performance as hat which peesists—huough process tha eran amount of subir ar antnsty— instead ofthat which isa Following his lead, Think it equally urgent to aoe the eases in srogitiona¢ + model for clea eantnuty and stability ie eect ‘aly ecu, as Roach notes, it allows for dhe collapse of vil his links and plitieal moves, Whether one ees culurl memory 4 contin and coherent besa it lx ret survogstion mish well depend the beholder There are many examples inthe colonial history ofthe «x of colonizers and erangelints ngng to the notion of sareogation ince herehas boon performative shi ha highlights, rather han sntecodents, One example wil hae sufi: the Mesoamerican “Tonanztn, the ery ars wari had disappear onl co reappear cultof the Virgin of Guadalupe Had the pre-Conquest godess been

    You might also like