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Assignment for Performance Studies at Roskilde University By Manus Bell.

Welcome to today’s show, I’m gonna paint the bigger picture
to decode the text by Erika Fischer-Lichte.
The transformative power of performance is
when you transform a person through a bodily experience.

The first section tells the story of Abramovic.
Many would call her what we know as a sadomasochist (Fischer-Lichte 2008: 16).
She fell and it it took thirty minutes for them to catch the witch,
by which time Marina was bleeding like she was hacked to bits (Fischer-Lichte 2008: 11).

Art is what you can get away with,
from blending goldfish to giving a dog a face-lift,
but everybody loves not knowing if they can take it.
Anything can happen, the feeling is so contagious (Fischer-Lichte 2008: 14)

The theatres for the bravest or maybe the contrary,
‘cause humans love the excitement of someone else getting buried (Fischer-Lichte 2008: 14).
They feel they’re enlightened as long as it doesn’t hit them,
which is why a show like Jackass ended up making millions.

In the 60’s, theatre became more than merely fiction
in an attempt to portrait reality with no distinction (Artaud 1958: 85)
and we know it from religion where men, women and children
antagonized themselves in hope of being forgiven (Fischer-Lichte 2008: 13)

for their sinning - It's all about pushing it to the limits.
Since the beginning we’ve had an ambivalent way of creating our self in God’s image.
People are able to get away with anything as long as they call it religious
(Fischer-Lichte 2008: 16).
I don’t know where to draw the line, it’s up to the individual witness (Fischer-Lichte 2008: 17).

You’d probably front If I dissed you on the street
but it doesn’t really matter when it’s over a beat,
‘cause it’s art and homie we can take it so damn far,
we can aim for the sky and hit the pentagon star (Fischer-Lichte 2008: 13)

and transform by turning a symbol into a scar (Fischer-Lichte 2008: 11),
whether it is visible or simply stuck in your heart.
And believe me, I know it can sound completely bizarre
but we define what is art and it defines who we are

When I say Marina, you say Abramovic
Marina! (Abramovic) Marina! (Abramovic)
And if you just said it I turned you into an actress,
the artist has whole audience to interact with. (Fischer-Lichte 2008: 15)

When I say Marina, you say Abramovic
Marina! (Abramovic) Marina! (Abramovic)
No matter if you said it or didn’t I made you think of it.
Ladies and gentlemen, that’s exactly what a drama is.




Bibliography

- Artaud, Antonin (1958): ”The theatre and Cruelty”. From The theatre and its double, s. 84-88

- Fischer-Lichte, Erika: “The Transformative Power of Performance”. In The transformative power of performance. A new Aesthetics. Routledge 2008. (translated by Saskya Iris Jain from Ästhetik des Performativen, Suhrkamp Verlag, 2004). s. 11-23