Space in the spotlight: a performance-centered approach to space as performer in rural cemeteries

ABSTRACT

The growing body of scholarship exploring nonhuman participation in performance and organizational space has made it clear that performance studies can offer a new perspective on space as a performer. Taking performance as the unit of analysis, this paper proposes engaging sites at the intersection of space, time, and culture to advance organizational dimensions of space by recognizing the agency of space as a performer. Using observational data gathered from rural cemeteries, this study finds a performance-centered approach affords a more nuanced understanding of sense-making for the study of space.

KEYWORDS:

• Space
• performance
• organizational space
• cemeteries
• spatial agency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For a greater discussion of the various dimensional differences of space and place that are beyond the scope of this paper, I suggest Yi-Fu Tuan’s “Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience.”