Page 126 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 126
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
has been replaced by a surface, more precisely, by so many surfaces. As
Jameson argues,
the dissolution of an autonomous sphere of culture is rather to be imagined
in terms of an explosion: a prodigious expansion of culture throughout the
social realm, to the point at which everything in our social life—from eco-
nomic value and state power to practices and to the very structure of the
psyche itself—can be said to have become ‘cultural’ in some original and
yet untheorized sense.
This is quite consistent with the analyses of a society of the image or the
simulacrum (Jameson 1991, 48).
Textual and Performative Tactics through their Relationship
126 with the Political: Case Studies
The present changes in the status of an artwork as well as of the whole
field of culture should be taken into consideration when reflecting on re-
cent socially and politically engaged performances in Slovenian theatre
and its stage-plays (i.e. texts that were used in performances). I have cho-
sen examples in which the textual component is important. The issues ad-
dressed in these works range from simple political agitation plays to very
complex elaborations of social and political themes. Who do these pro-
jects address and what are they trying to achieve? What are their strate-
gies and tactics and which message do they convey?
Regarding this, one of the essential features of Slovenian performing
arts is the importance of a document, around which the story is built. All
the following examples start from a document. A document gives the au-
thors an assurance of the truth, as well as an elevated moral position from
which they can speak, but they take different stances toward the docu-
ment.
Milohnić, for instance, compares several recent socially engaged per-
formances in Slovenia with brutalism, the architectural style. He writes
about facti bruti, raw or brute material (Milohnić 2018). With this no-
tion, he aims at something similar as a document but just to a certain ex-
tent, since he explains it in a different way, emphasizing primarily the im-
portance of pure facts that the authors of a performance want to throw to
the audience in their faces.
The term ‘document’ seems to be more appropriate. A document can
not be performed in-itself, the performers must always choose an inter-
pretation (how to sort the so-called facts, is already the interpretation).
has been replaced by a surface, more precisely, by so many surfaces. As
Jameson argues,
the dissolution of an autonomous sphere of culture is rather to be imagined
in terms of an explosion: a prodigious expansion of culture throughout the
social realm, to the point at which everything in our social life—from eco-
nomic value and state power to practices and to the very structure of the
psyche itself—can be said to have become ‘cultural’ in some original and
yet untheorized sense.
This is quite consistent with the analyses of a society of the image or the
simulacrum (Jameson 1991, 48).
Textual and Performative Tactics through their Relationship
126 with the Political: Case Studies
The present changes in the status of an artwork as well as of the whole
field of culture should be taken into consideration when reflecting on re-
cent socially and politically engaged performances in Slovenian theatre
and its stage-plays (i.e. texts that were used in performances). I have cho-
sen examples in which the textual component is important. The issues ad-
dressed in these works range from simple political agitation plays to very
complex elaborations of social and political themes. Who do these pro-
jects address and what are they trying to achieve? What are their strate-
gies and tactics and which message do they convey?
Regarding this, one of the essential features of Slovenian performing
arts is the importance of a document, around which the story is built. All
the following examples start from a document. A document gives the au-
thors an assurance of the truth, as well as an elevated moral position from
which they can speak, but they take different stances toward the docu-
ment.
Milohnić, for instance, compares several recent socially engaged per-
formances in Slovenia with brutalism, the architectural style. He writes
about facti bruti, raw or brute material (Milohnić 2018). With this no-
tion, he aims at something similar as a document but just to a certain ex-
tent, since he explains it in a different way, emphasizing primarily the im-
portance of pure facts that the authors of a performance want to throw to
the audience in their faces.
The term ‘document’ seems to be more appropriate. A document can
not be performed in-itself, the performers must always choose an inter-
pretation (how to sort the so-called facts, is already the interpretation).
