Performance Art and the Seduction of Theatricality

Born of the America of 1960s, performance art comes along as a celebration of presentation rather than re-presentation, as a display form of art, and an art form that does not admit of duplication. This paper presents a reading of the seductive power of performance art as rooted in our theatrical nature. I will address performance art as an emancipated form of the theatrical, where by ＂theatrical＂ I mean a specific mode of presentation and a specific mode of perception： the mode of presentation of the self to the social and the mode of perception of the self through the social. Performance art, I will argue, is hardly an anomaly of our time. Rather, its source of disturbance and fascination lies in the natural, though excessive manifestation of our theatrical nature. By its appeal to the shocking, the perilous, or the mundane even, this form of art confirms what Paul Woodruff has addressed as ＂the necessity of watching and being watched.＂ Performance art shows us the danger of self-presentation, the recognition of the other gaze as the self＇s greatest need and greatest fear. It needs no words. Mere action is more seductive than speech and does not accept speech in return. Once it has been performed, it is no longer. In Nietzsche＇s words, it celebrates the fleeting moment＇s ＂greatest weight.＂ As Samuel Beckett used to tell his actors, performance artists seem to tell their spectators： ＂Go on failing. Go on. Only next time, try to fail better.＂

Othello： From Shakespeare＇s play to Oliver Parker＇s film

Othello has long been recognized as one of the most powerful of Shakespeare＇s tragedies. It is an intense drama of love, deception, jealousy and destruction. Desdemona＇s love for Othello, the Moor, transcends racial prejudice, but the envious Iago conspires to destroy their lives. In its vivid rendering of racism, sexism, contested identities, and the savagery lurking within civilization, Othello is inarguably the most topical and accessible tragedy from Shakespeare＇s major phase as a dramatist. Productions on stage and screen regularly renew its power to engross, impress and trouble the imagination. A good adaptation can neither remain confined to the theatre stage nor abandon that intrinsic theatricality which beats in the heart of Shakespearean drama. Of different adaptations of Othello, the American director, Oliver Parker＇s is one of those which reconcile very well the theatrical drama with cinematic elements. This paper, based on Shakespeare＇s play, will make a brief analysis on Oliver Parker＇s film and then focus on a comparison between the characterizations of the evil character, Iago, in Shakespeare＇s play and in Oliver Parker＇s film.

阿庆嫂的论辩技巧对中国传统论辩艺术的继承

同为"文化大革命"的产物,样板戏并没有随着忠字舞和大字报退出历史的舞台;相反,样板戏的某些经典唱段、场次和人物形象至今仍然吸引着成千上万的观众。例如京剧《沙家浜》中的《智斗》一场,特别是其中阿庆嫂的形象。阿庆嫂何以能够"青春常在"?与样板戏中其他的女性英雄形象相比,阿庆嫂的形象是与众不同的。

A primary study of the acoustics of Chinese traditional theatrical buildings

The traditional performing arts and theatrical buildings in China can be traced back to a long history and were well developed during Song and Yuan Dynasties, 11th-14th centuries. Pavilion stage, opened on three sides and thrusting into the audience area, was unique and the most popular form in the open-air theatres, the courtyard theatres, and the indoor theatres up to the present day. As the traditional Chinese opera is performed in an abstract way, no stage settings are required and used. Therefore, the pavilion stage including the flat or domed ceiling and the back wall is virtually functioned as a reflective shell, which increases the early reflections and also intensifies the sound in the audience area. Meanwhile, it provides sufficient self-support to the performers. Acoustical parameters including reverberation time RT, early decay time EDT, acoustic ratio C （50）, strength index （loudness） G, and stage support factor ST1 were measured and reported on several traditional theatrical buildings.

Growth with the city:Development history of theatrical buildings in Chongqing Municipality,China

In the twentieth century,the development of Chongqing Municipality was closely related to the development of China as a whole.Under the background of China’s rapid economic development,the construction of large cultural buildings is often aimed at stimulating economic growth,improving city image and enriching urban culture.Located in the southwest of China,Chongqing Municipality has gradually transformed from an industrial city to an exciting metropolis after a century of development and transformation.Taking Chongqing Grand Theatre and Chongqing Guotai Arts Center as examples,this study explores the interaction between urban development and cultural image enhancement in Chongqing Municipality.

From the Pictorial Symbols of the Theatre to the Virtual Symbolisation of the Real

In many representative, literary, cinematic, or artistic products of modern civilization, the problem of world＇s reality and the relationship of the subject with it, are seen from different viewpoints, such as the dimension of the utopian perception of a dreamlike or imaginary composition, subconscious creation, but also more complex versions such as computer mediated complete illusion, artificial intelligence, and control of the brain, intrusion, and influence exerted on the thought of the other using modern technology or any combination of all the above. It is thus understood that the issue at hand can be approached from a variety of viewpoints and aspects, such as the philosophical, psychological, psychoanalytical, technological, neurophysiologieal, sociological, literary and so on Our viewpoint is strictly limited to the theatrical dimension and our analysis will prosress based on data comprising the theatrical phenomenon, that is, the illusion, as opposed to virtual reality of modern technology.

Physics as Final Opportunity to Prevent Harms Related to Theatricalization of Meteorology

Using Mbane Biouele formula derived in 2009 on the troposphere thermoelastic properties leads to thermal and kinematic profiles of major atmospheric disturbances which clearly indicate that these terrible events for men should not be viewed with fatalism. This unexpected truth is unfortunately always obscured by media outlets of brilliant TV presenters or famous workshops panelists that focus attention on the excessively sensational meteorology (unfortunately folk and pernicious) instead of worrying about the seriousness that should characterize all interventions on the climate study or prediction. Good weather conditions, it is undeniable, facilitate an excellent running of almost all human activities like sports, transport, agricultural activities, celebrations of events, etc.... Far more serious, the advent of supercomputers and satellites could, if their valuable information is used solely for the theatricalization of weather events, trigger the decline of the scientific discipline of great public utility that is meteorology. Indeed, many meteorologists acquire very big head when they succeed in acquiring advanced equipment. Without prejudging what meteorology will become in the future, we hope that the work done in this article will remind each researchers that much remains to be done to promote climate studies. We remind quite emphatically that both hurricanes and cyclones have their weak-points (or talon d’Achilles in French) and thus, researchers should begin to think about “how to neutralize atmospheric disturbances that have both a large and a strong destructive power”.

Research on organization and planning of non-art department＇s large-scale theatrical show in colleges

College gala, as an important part of campus culture, is one of the important channels to advance the college students＇ cultural level and artistic taste and play an important role in creating a cultural atmosphere in college. Gala as a widely popular form loved by college students brings together a variety of art forms, with its rich content and distinctive style, which enables viewers to watch different forms of performance in a short period of time. Universities gala melts artistic, entertaining and educational role in one and combines ideological guidance with lively art forms to actively promote the construction of campus culture, disseminate correct, positive and healthy ideas and culture, show the campus features with contemporary characteristics to society, create a healthy educational environment and establish a good image of college.

Utopian Theatre and Subjectivity Reconstruction Rethinking on the Artistic Spirit of Minjian Theatre

Minjian has become an important concept in recent scholarly research. It is widely used by scholars to indicate specific social and cultural spaces existing beyond the control of state power, therefore, minjian social-cultural spaces are more often than not marginal and peripheral. In the field of performing arts, minjian theatre refers to performances produced by private theatre companies as opposed to state-run groups. These private companies or grass-root groups, without the interference of the government, produce artistic expressions that reflect current social reality to a certain extent. For a long time, the study of minjian theatre has been framed as forms of resistance against the ideology propagated by state-run theatres. Based on this paradigm, this paper, through the case analysis of Shanghai minjian theatre companies, attempts to illuminate the production mechanism and developmental process of minjian theatres. In so dong, this paper will explore the aesthetic and social-political values of minjian theatres.

Theatrical Hybridity, Thy Name Is Conflict： A Case Study on Holo Taiwan Residents Opera Troupe＇s Tai Tzu Fu Chou （The Prince＇s Vengeful Plan）

Holo Taiwan Residents Opera Troupe has produced a series of intercultural performances in Taiwan Residents Opera since the troupe adapted Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol＇s （1809-1852） The Government Inspector in 1996. In fact, there is a huge controversy over these intercultural performances which fuse western drama with traditional Taiwan Residents performing art because such a kind of theatrical hybridity lacks the spirit of the original and damages the aesthetics of native performing art practice. In 2002, Holo adapted William Shakespeare＇s Hamlet into a six-hour-long performance, Tai Tzu Fu Chou （The Prince＇s Vengeful Plan）, which the troupe tried to explore new source for traditional Taiwan Residents Opera and expected to bring something new to Taiwan Residents audience. However, The Prince＇s Vengeful Plan is considered ＂cultural collage＂ as well as an unsuccessful intercultural performance. Besides, The Prince＇s Vengeful Plan is accused to blaspheme Shakespeare because the performance merely maintains the frame of the original and distorts the spirit of the original. According to Rustom Bharucha, the most problematic aspect of intercultural performance is ＂de-historicizing tendency＂, and such a condition explains why Holo＇s The Prince＇s Vengeful Plan cannot transcend the original. In order to detect the problems of intercultural adaptation in Holo＇s The Prince Vengeful Plan, we cover the related issues in three aspects： （1） to discuss the development of Taiwan Residents Opera in Taiwan; （2） to explore the cultural conflicts when the text of the source culture is adapted into the performance of the target culture; and （3） to see how and why the spirit and aesthetics of Shakespeare＇s verses in Hamlet are distorted in Holo＇s theatrical adaptation. After that, we expect to conclude the impossibility of adapting Shakespeare＇s play into traditional Taiwan Residents Opera in the case of Holo＇s The Prince＇s Vengeful Plan.

A Theatrical Testament

Artists stage the grand gala Road to Revival to celebrate the 60th birthday of the People’s Republic of

Trauma, Play, Memory： Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out and Mo Yan＇s Strategies for Writing History as Story

Commonly acclaimed for its black humor, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out uses the Buddhist concept of reincarnation to follow two families during the second half of the 20th century. The novel exemplifies the strategies through which Mo Yan transforms the violent and absurd events of recent Chinese history into personal memory of historical trauma. It focuses less, however, on those events per se than on the traumatic effects they create on the individual victims, and on the ways through which personal trauma caused by historical atrocities is addressed and healed. This article analyzes three layers of the novel： the evolving mechanisms of violence that condition the formation of personal trauma; the theatrical manifestation of the state-endorsed violence, and its loss in the post-revolutionary era; and the rationalization of the tragicomic past through the dialectic of remembering and forgetting. Built one on the other, these layers constitute the very dynamic stage on which the individuals interact with the violent and absurd world to negotiate the meaning of their lives, make sense of historical trauma, and insist on driving historical change.