Clues on Technē

Abstract

The essay takes its cue from the author’s practical research on /Tekhnē Sessions/ (aimed at exploring dimensions of improvisation in performer training) to investigate clues related to presence in the performer’s work. Some considerations of ‘presence’ from the field of theatre and performance (e.g. charisma and its materiality) lead to an etymological and philosophical contextualisation of the term /technē/, especially as it relates to the capacity for disclosure (or unconcealment) and as it concerns technique and technology. The essay proposes a ‘post-psychophysical’ outlook that challenges the human–nonhuman dichotomy that remains intact and concealed in other paradigms of analysing ‘presence’ in the performer’s craft//technē/. Post-psychophysicality acknowledges a mind–body–world fusion that recognizes in discourse what is situationally the case in everyday life and practices, including performance: a co- and intra-forming relation with the world. Shining a light on the material conditions of the /technē /that situates performers thus becomes an exercise in potential unconcealment, providing clues to that which is not immediately visible in performance.