ACTIVISM

Performance and Performitivity

RESISTANT PERFORMANCEBy: Marvin Carlson

BIOGRAPHY• Ph.D. in drama and theatre from

Cornell University

• City University of New York Graduate Center in the Ph .D. program of Theatre and Comparative Literature

• Researching and teaching include dramatic theatre and literature, as well as Western European theatre history of the18th,19th, and 20th centuries

ACHIEVEMENTS• ATHE Career Achievement Award

• George Jean Nathan Prize

• Bernard Hewitt Prize

• George Freedley Award

• A Guggenheim Fellowship

• In 2001, his book The Haunted Stage won the Callaway Prize

• His best known book, Theories of the Theatre has been translated into five different languages

• Awarded honorary doctorate from University of Athens in 2005

Summary• Modern Women’s Movement- late 1960s

Miss America Pageant- 1968 WITCH (Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell)

• Guerrilla & other street theatre• Ulrike Rosenbach & Valie Export- “Feminist actionism”• Freud- male as dominant subject in patriarchal culture

Men as viewer, women as desirable object

• Judith Butler- gender a “performative,” aka a “doing”• Innovative Agency• “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house”- Audre

Lorde• ‘Mimicry’- make spectacle of oneself in order to draw attention to the

spectacle itself• Gay and lesbian camp performances are strong examples of resistant

performance

Lateral Research • The system: traditional theatre and visual art

assumes a male spectator and offers females as the “other” – “the object of the male’s desiring gaze” (Carlson 233)

• relates to Laura Mulvey’s theory of “the male gaze”

– discusses how “mainstream Hollywood films represent women characters as passive objects of male sexual desire”

– theory of the male gaze: male characters are “bearers of the look”

– women are seen as objects both physically & sexually and also desirable characters “cultural practice that has made of woman an object, a category, a sign”

– “watch cinematic films through the eyes of the dominant male protagonists…” “The traditional audience is assumed to be the male subject, and the woman on stage”

GUERRILLA GIRLSCase Study #1

Reinventing the ‘F’ word – feminism

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Oytwe5nVjg4

Relevance• What word associations do you make when you

hear the term ‘guerrilla’? Masculinity, Aggressive, Destructive, Powerful

• The Guerrilla Girls strive to incorporate these aspects into their art

• Guerrilla art term refers to art that is created in the streets

opposed to government sponsored, commercial venues

• Traditional graffiti, flash mobbing,...

Guerrilla History• Guerrilla girls

developed in New York in 1985 Primarily created to grab people’s attention

regarding the male dominated art world Use ‘comic book’ style and humour to grab

people’s attention Less than 5% of the artists in the MET's

modern art sections were women, but 85% of the nudes were female

The following is their most famous poster which is seen in a variety of texts

Public Sphere

• Invasive- gives little option to viewer

• Bringing a lesser subject to the attention of the public

• Not defeated by commercial art

• Comic book style • Innovative• Bright colour scheme• They represent in

costume as well; gorilla mask, mini skirt with fish net stockings, and take on dead female celebrity names

• Rapport with their viewer- more interactive

Guerrilla Art

Class Discussion

• Do you think that resistant performance is a good method to generate a message? Do you think that the Guerrilla Girls encapsulate all the elements of resistant performance? If not, what elements do you think they need to incorporate?

PARDON ME BUT THE ART IS MOUTHING OFFBy: Jori Finkel

• Lynn Hershman• 64yr old digital media artist• Completed her Masters in Art • Explored artificial intelligence

and virtual reality• Participated in activities such

as photography, painting, performance art, video, laserdiscs, DVD’s, web-based work, artificial intelligences and interactive sculptures

• A pioneer in interactive computer and net based media arts

• 1993 Donald Hess bought the entire Roberta archives

• Steve Dietz displayed Lynn’s work at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis

• University of California Press published an anthology that consisted of 10yrs documenting various projects of Lynn

• DINA’s Programmer: Colin Klingman

Hershmann’s ProjectsCreating Roberta Breitmore 1974- 1978

Character Study

• Divorced, blonde, heavy makeup and depressed

• Owned her own apartment, had a drivers license and 2 credit cards

• After 3yrs Kristine Stiles took over the role of Roberta

Creating Lorna- 1st Interactive Laserdisc 1984

• Originally conceived as an interactive game

• Always prevailed a sad portrait of a woman (like Roberta)

Movie: Conceiving Ada (1997)

• Bringing Ada Lovelace (Lord Byron’s daughter) back to life through computer programming

Movie: Teknolust (2002)

• A story of a geeky biogeneticist who uses her own DNA to create 3 computer-bred clones

1) Marinne

2) Olive

3) Ruby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jAwudHeZhQ

Creating DINA (2004) • Originally could only communicate

through keyboard but now has progressed to speech

• Ruby was an earlier model but Dina contained twice as much programming

• Both Ruby and Dina had the face of actress Tilda Swinton

• Dina is a flat screened monitor equipped with voice recognition software- artificial intelligence

• Purpose was to chat about current affairs

Lateral Research

– “Men seem to like Ruby more…she’s funnier and quirkier, and they are put off by DiNA’s intelligence” a past notion that men were smarter and more successful than women and felt threatened by intelligent women

– DiNA, an all knowing, interactive and intelligent robot = how women have gained power and an identity for themselves, not imprisoned by the ‘male gaze’

– Men interacting with DiNA = how men have more respect for women today, they are seen as an equal and not looked down upon

– Tilda Swinton representing the face of DiNa = how women of today are beautiful and intelligent

Lateral Research (cont’d)**BUT some female robots degrade women**

Vodka:http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/Yadali/svedka_girl.gif

Heinekin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-NfrBgYIEQ

• They are completely plastic/metal and have the bare essentials, lips, chest, behind, a seductive look promoting traditional sexist standards

• Represents the only features of a woman in the eyes of a man

• Robots are “human slaves”, controllable and programmable men control women, have them when, as and how they want them,

• “FEMBOTS” represent women as male prisoners, imprisoned by their sexual and empowering needs

• Ads using robots to promote their products• Robots have become “sex symbols”

STRUGGLE TO SUCCESSBy: George Belliveau

• George Belliveau is an Assistant Professor in the faculty of Education at the University of P.E.I.

• Belliveau teaches Integrated Arts and Drama Education

• The anti- bullying collective drama Wasn’t Me! is a play created by Belliveau and a group of students from the education program of the University of P.E.I.

• Over their 5 week teaching practicum in 2002 the group of students and Belliveau presented the play to over 30 schools

Influenced by:- The Shape of a Girl by Joan

MacLeod- Augusta Boal’s Forum Theatre- Patrick Verriour and Carol

Tarlington’s Role Drama- Other bullying related

performances- Personal experiences of the

actors and writers

1.Exploring and

Researching• Main theme or topic• Target play at students

between the grade of 7 and 9

• Focus mainly on the bystanders of bullying

• Discussions with guidance counselors, schools with anti-bullying initiatives, literature on bullying and websites

• Focuses on a girl who is struggling with issues at home and therefore results in her bullying a young boy at school

• Desire to be a performer increased by many

• Everyone became involved in the acting, setting, writing, directing, content and overall mood of the play

2. Framing

3. Sequencing

• Non-linear presentation• Caused some anxiety

because they were fearful that the audience would not be able to follow

• Has a circular structure beginning and ending for the search of a little boy named Tim

• Results in a more engaging script

• The time rehearsing (3 to 4 solid days) took much less time than scripting

• Transitions, music and connecting scenes

• Developed post-performance activities for the audience members

4. Rehearsing

5. Performing

• Well received by the Department of Education, Teachers Federation, School Boards, principals, teachers and intermediate students

• Media coverage (newspapers, radio and television) • The Shape of a Girl and Augusta Boal’s Forum Theatre was evident

in the production of Wasn’t Me!• Tim is the victim of bullying and he never appears on stage and in

the end he is the boy that goes missing and results in a search • Focuses on a female aggressor as she manipulates and bullies a

male victim • Drama overall is a powerful medium for providing messages and

educating youth on current affairs

Lateral Research

• Relates to David Diamond’s Form Theatre that discusses social issues: drugs, violence, alcohol, etc.

• “Drama is a powerful medium for providing learning for people at all stages of life, and creating collective drama, rather than using scripted text, further heightens individual and collective satisfaction…” David Diamond: “…the Forum Theatre events were able to explore a lot of creative options that were perception altering, and sometimes skill building, for everyone involved…”

• David Diamond even helped with an anti-bullying production Don’t Say a Word

• form of “activist theatre” that tries to raise awareness about issues and persuade people to take action

Lateral Research (cont’d)

• Other anti-bullying programs: – Safe Canada: Anti bullying

programs and preventative measures

– Ministry of Education: register for bullying prevention programs

– Peaceful Schools International: resources, support and ideas on bullying

Lateral Research (cont’d)

• The media draws a lot of attention to bullying, in a positive light, seen as “cool” and accepted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wcx2qM5C4g&feature=related

– Kids are influenced by this bullying exposure and don’t see it as being bad

– Bullies are often the ‘popular’ kids– Female bullies are referred to as “mean girls,”

and male bullies as “cool guys”– Bullying is sometimes an answer to one’s

insecurity more of a question of how to raise kid’s self esteem and acceptance of others and differences (social, physical, mental, etc.)

– Relates to Hebdige’s subcultural people who, in an attempt to resist mainstream culture, often face bullying, their outspoken identity is ridiculed because it goes against the norm

Our PerformanceStarring:

Instigator Bully Victim Bystander Confronter

Class Discussion

The text as well as our play, shows bullying occurs well into adult circumstances. Do you think that resistant performances being exposed to us at a younger age alters our frame of reference regarding bullying?