The Non-Human Turn in Performance Art: Conversations
Author
Abramovic, Boris
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2019
Submitted on
2019-08-12
Pages
89
Abstract
Robots and cyborgs now appear on stage and in social settings, prompting both anxiety and affection and raising expectations that they exhibit agency and liveness beyond mere machinery. This thesis examines the perceived liveness of non-human performers through the interplay of performance and cybernetics, framing human–machine interaction as 'conversations' in aesthetically potent environments (after Gordon Pask) and as imitations of life or moments of human–machine confusion (after William Grey Walter and Jane Goodall). The central research question asks how concepts from performance and cybernetics explicate the liveness and performative life of technological non-humans. Methodologically, the study positions itself within the performative turn, drawing on theories of performativity (Austin, Goffman, Turner, Fischer-Lichte, McKenzie) and moving between metaphorical non-humans in scholarship and embodied robots and cyborgs in stage practice. It analyzes the extent to which liveness arises from technological systems versus audience perception, and interrogates who is really performing—the machine, the human behind the design and code, or both through mixed agencies. Liminality is proposed as a useful lens for reading robots that operate between the imaginary and the real. While the excerpt does not present empirical findings, the thesis offers a synthesized framework for understanding how live art techniques and cybernetic architectures shape audiences’ experiences of non-human performance.
Robotter og cyborgs optræder i dag på scener og i sociale sammenhænge, hvilket både kan fremkalde angst og affektion og vække forventningen om, at de udviser agens og livagtighed ud over det rent mekaniske. Dette speciale undersøger den oplevede livagtighed hos ikke-menneskelige performere gennem samspillet mellem performance og kybernetik og rammesætter menneske–maskine-interaktion som 'samtaler' i æstetisk potente miljøer (med afsæt i Gordon Pask) samt som livsimitation og menneske–maskine-forvirring (med afsæt i William Grey Walter og Jane Goodall). Det centrale forskningsspørgsmål er, hvordan begreber fra performance og kybernetik kan forklare den liveness og det performative liv hos teknologiske ikke-mennesker. Metodisk placerer studiet sig i den performative vending, trækker på teorier om performativitet (Austin, Goffman, Turner, Fischer-Lichte, McKenzie) og bevæger sig mellem metaforiske ikke-mennesker i teorien og kropsliggjorte robotter og cyborgs i scenekunstpraksis. Det analyserer, i hvilken grad livagtighed udspringer af teknologiske systemer versus publikums opfattelser, og undersøger hvem der egentlig performer—maskinen, mennesket bag design og kode, eller begge gennem blandede agensformer. Liminalitet foreslås som et frugtbart perspektiv til at læse robotter, der opererer mellem det imaginære og det reale. Uddraget præsenterer ikke empiriske resultater, men specialet tilbyder et syntetiserende rammeværk for at forstå, hvordan live art-teknikker og kybernetiske arkitekturer former publikums oplevelser af ikke-menneskelig performance.
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