Penetrating spaces: a social semiotic, multimodal analysis of performance as rape prevention

ABSTRACT

Penetrating spaces examines how movement is used as a semiotic resource to transform the meaning potential of the installation space Spreading the Love. This transformation underscores the rewriting of the script of rape, a scripted interaction that draws upon, yet also creates, social configurations of sexuality and gender. Being a “script”, it can be rewritten, or transformed, by playing socially constructed roles differently. Drawing on performance studies theory and adopting a multimodal, social semiotic and metafunctional approach, we suggest that movement of the participants in relation to the installation and of the performance itself to different venues changes the organizational, interactional, and representational meanings of the installation, and that these changes transform the script of rape. Organizationally, participants move from one location to another so that marginalized voices become central to the destabilization of the script of rape. Interactionally, the dialogic nature of the installation enables members of the public to become the authoritative voice, “rewriting” new scripts that assert ethical relationships. Representationally, we examine how spectators can transform themselves into performers, thereby questioning the conventional participatory roles in the script of rape.

KEYWORDS:

• Performance
• movement
• social semiotics
• rape
• gender
• sexuality
• multimodality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Robert James McMurtrie’s publications explore the grammar of movement, pathways, haircuts, and system networks. He has recently published an article on evaluative language in examiners’ reports of Ph.D. theses and a book on Spatial Discourse Analysis.

Dr Aurora Murphy’s research draws upon theories of feminism, applied theatre, and feminist performance art. She creates performances with diverse groups of people which seek to make social change.

Notes

1. Participating councils were Adelaide City Council, Alexandrina Council, The City of Charles Sturt, The City of Golden Grove, The City of Marion, The City of Norwood Payneham and St Peters, The City of Port Adelaide, and The City of Unley.

2. Spreading the Love was also performed in 2013; however, this show was markedly different to the previous two years and is thus not analyzed in this study.

3. This is compared to 4.5% of men who have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15 and 4.5% of boys who have been sexually abused before the age of 12 (ABS 2005, 11–12).

4. Spreading the Love has previously been analyzed through a performance studies and applied theatre lens (Murphy 2013, 2015).