‘Mediation in motion: performing permanent presence’

Abstract

This essay opens by arguing that the notion of scenography, which effectively encapsulates the entire technical dimension of a theatre production, could be placed on equal footing with the dramatic text as both object of analysis and stepping stone for further conceptualization. Especially so when adapting a historiographical posture, as the conjunction of scenography and historiography entails the entanglement of human beings with technological devices while foregrounding history’s own essentially mediated character. In more concrete terms, addressing the process of writing history arguably yields insight into the various signifying systems and methods that bring it into being. Tackling signification from the angle of theatre scenography, consequently, reveals the act of ‘meaning making’ in its broadest sense as an immanent, collective entanglement of material enunciations that operate on, shape, and transform the world in real time. As such, the proposed perspective provides a platform to reflect upon the principle of a ‘permanent present’ by dramatizing a process metaphysics via the prism of Jet Lag (1998), a cross-media performance by The Builders Association with Diller + Scofidio combining live action, live and recorded video, computer animation, music, and dramatic text with two historical characters.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Belgian Science Policy Office [grant number BELSPO IAP7/01].