the audience:
draft 23
the emancipated spectator
***
[prologue]
Dear member,
welcome to draft the audience with me. It is a pleasure to have you here.
I have a proposition for you. It is an invitation to create something together. The audience is a great interest and love of mine. Having arrived here, I assume it interests you as well. So, I would like to ask you to be my co-researcher for the following 30 minutes. Ok?
If you consent, here is how it works:
[act]
The French philosopher Jaqcues Ranciere writes that the reformists of theatre always want to activate the audience. He continues that this activation is redundant - the audience is never passive, or even better: the binary of active/passive is not what we need. The audience does not need liberation, they are already free.
Now, for the duration of 30 minutes, and in your own personal way, I would ask you to study these questions inspired by Ranciere:
Am I free as a spectator? How can I practice this freedom here and now?
The act starts at the moment when you step into to theatre space. During the act, you can use this space and time to practice your spectatorship in the way you choose.
The act consists of the audience composing itself.
Yours,
Tuomas
[epilogue]
P.S. After the act, there is a panel and a discussion.
the audience:
draft 24
the narcissistic participant
***
[prologue]
Dear member,
welcome to draft the audience with me. It is a pleasure to have you here.
I have a proposition for you. It is an invitation to create something together. The audience is a great interest and love of mine. Having arrived here, I assume it interests you as well. So, I would like to ask you to be my co-researher for the following 30 minutes. Ok?
If you consent, here is how it works:
[act]
The British theatre scholar Adam Alston compares the participants of immersive and participatory theatre to Narcissus, the mythical character that falls in love with his own reflection and eventually dies due to this self-absorbtion. Alston suggests that immersive theatre directs the attention of the participant to their own affective experience, rendering the audience into productive and narcissistic participants.
Now, for the duration of 30 minutes, and in your own personal way, I would ask you to study these questions inspired by Alston:
Am I a narcissistic participant? How to create the best experience for myself?
The act starts at the moment when you step into to theatre space. You are free to move and act in the space in the way you choose.
The act consists of the audience composing itself.
Yours,
Tuomas
[epilogue]
P.S. After the act, there is a panel and a discussion.
the audience:
draft 25
the entrepreneural participant
***
[prologue]
Dear member,
welcome to draft the audience with me. It is a pleasure to have you here.
I have a proposition for you. It is an invitation to create something together. The audience is a great interest and love of mine. Having arrived here, I assume it interests you as well. So, I would like to ask you to be my co-researher for the following 30 minutes. Ok?
If you consent, here is how it works:
[act]
The British theatre scholar Adam Alston suggests that audiences of immersive theatre are offered a role as an entrepreneur, in line with neoliberal ethos. The ideal participant is then the self-starter, the independent, autonomous, motivated subject who is ready to take risks in order to receive more experiences.
Now, for the duration of 30 minutes, and in your own personal way, I would ask you to study these questions inspired by Alston:
How can I practice entrepreneuralism in my participation? How to become the autonomous risk-taker?
The act starts at the moment when you step into to theatre space. You are free to move and act in the space in the way you choose.
The act consists of the audience composing itself.
Yours,
Tuomas
[epilogue]
P.S. After the act, there is a panel and a discussion.
the audience:
draft 26
dissensus
***
[prologue]
Dear member,
welcome to draft the audience with me. It is a pleasure to have you here.
I have a proposition for you. It is an invitation to create something together. The audience is a great interest and love of mine. Having arrived here, I assume it interests you as well. So, I would like to ask you to be my co-researher for the following 30 minutes. Ok?
If you consent, here is how it works:
[act]
The French philosopher Jaqcues Rancière bases his political philosophy on the idea of dissensus. Dissensus is the opposite of consensus; it is disagreement on the level of sensing, of distribution of the sensible. ”The essence of politics is the manifestation of dissensus as the presence of two worlds in one”, writes Rancière.
Now, for the duration of 30 minutes, and in your own personal way, I would ask you to study these questions inspired by Rancière:
How does dissensus appear here? How can I dissent?
The act starts at the moment when you step into to theatre space. You are free to move and act in the space in the way of your choice.
The act consists of the audience composing itself.
Yours,
Tuomas
[epilogue]
P.S. After the act, there is a panel and a discussion.
the audience:
draft 27
autopoietic loop
***
[prologue]
Dear member,
welcome to draft the audience with me. It is a pleasure to have you here.
I have a proposition for you. It is an invitation to create something together. The audience is a great interest and love of mine. Having arrived here, I assume it interests you as well. So, I would like to ask you to be my co-researher for the following 30 minutes. Ok?
If you consent, here is how it works:
[act]
The German theatre scholar Erika Fischer-Lichte suggests that performance has transformative power. According to her, this power is due to an autopoietic feedback loop that operates in the event of a performance. Something travels between the stage and the auditorium, between the performers and the audience, back and forth, in a loop, transforming everyone present.
Now, for the duration of 30 minutes, and in your own personal way, I would ask you to study these questions inspired by Fischer-Lichte:
Does a feedback loop appear here? Can I take part in its creation or destruction? Can we transform?
The act starts at the moment when you step into to theatre space. You are free to move and act in the space in the way you choose.
The act consists of the audience composing itself.
Yours,
Tuomas
[epilogue]
P.S. After the act, there is a panel and a discussion.
the audience:
draft 28
co-understanding
***
[prologue]
Dear member,
welcome to draft the audience with me. It is a pleasure to have you here.
I have a proposition for you. It is an invitation to create something together. The audience is a great interest and love of mine. Having arrived here, I assume it interests you as well. So, I would like to ask you to be my co-researher for the following 30 minutes. Ok?
If you consent, here is how it works:
[act]
The German theatre scholar Hans-Thies Lehmann suggests, that viewing in theatre is co-viewing, understanding is co-understanding - to understand individually is not the same as to understand together. ”At the moment I believe to understand something in a performance, [...] I am also identifying with the possible, virtual significance that this may have for the others”, Lehmann says.
Now, for the duration of 30 minutes, and in your own personal way, I would ask you to study these questions inspired by Lehmann:
How am I co-viewing? What and how do I understand together with the whole of the audience?
The act starts at the moment when you step into to theatre space. You are free to move and act in the space in the way you choose.
The act consists of the audience composing itself.
Yours,
Tuomas
[epilogue]
P.S. After the act, there is a panel and a discussion.
the audience:
draft 29
community without community
***
[prologue]
Dear member,
welcome to draft the audience with me. It is a pleasure to have you here.
I have a proposition for you. It is an invitation to create something together. The audience is a great interest and love of mine. Having arrived here, I assume it interests you as well. So, I would like to ask you to be my co-researher for the following 30 minutes. Ok?
If you consent, here is how it works:
[act]
The French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy suggests, that we have not lost the sense of community. Instead he says that there never was a ”we” that had something in common. On the contrary, for Nancy, only thing in common that we have is that we do not have something in common. Lack of community is what draws us together, to become ”us”.
Now, for the duration of 30 minutes, and in your own personal way, I would ask you to study these questions inspired by Nancy:
Is there a ”we” here? If so, how does it appear? Who are we?
The act starts at the moment when you step into to theatre space. You are free to move and act in the space in the way you choose.
The act consists of the audience composing itself.
Yours,
Tuomas
[epilogue]
P.S. After the act, there is a panel and a discussion.
the audience:
draft 30
aesthetic
***
[prologue]
Dear member,
welcome to draft the audience with me. It is a pleasure to have you here.
I have a proposition for you. It is an invitation to create something together. The audience is a great interest and love of mine. Having arrived here, I assume it interests you as well. So, I would like to ask you to be my co-researher for the following 30 minutes. Ok?
If you consent, here is how it works:
[act]
The American art scholar Claire Bishop suggests that the discourse on participatory art easily collapses into sociology and ethical questions. Instead, she emphasises the aesthetic -- ”in the sense of aisthesis: an autonomous regime of experience that is not reducible to logic, reason or morality”.
Now, for the duration of 30 minutes, and in your own personal way, I would ask you to study these questions inspired by Bishop:
What kind of aesthetics appear in this event? How am I, how are we aesthetic as an audience?
The act starts at the moment when you step into to theatre space. You are free to move and act in the space in the way you choose.
The act consists of the audience composing itself.
Yours,
Tuomas
[epilogue]
P.S. After the act, there is a panel and a discussion.