Artifacts of technoculture : excommunication in the nonhuman theatre

Abstract

The aim of this article is to form a conceptual framework for analyzing and understanding the latest intermedial practice within the field of new technologies. In order to achieve this, it suggests two converging theoretical strategies. Firstly, the introduction emphasizes on concept of “excommunication,” coined by Alexander R. Galloway in his 2013 book, in order to provide a better understanding of the scenic mediation that encompasses a great number of contemporary productions. More specifically, by both following and criticizing Galloway’s stance on three different media modalities, a fourth mediation vector will be isolated - The Water Principle - incorporated in the mythology of Neptune. Such a theoretical orientation is primarily guided by an ambition to associate intermedial theory with watery elements that appear in two different stage examples analyzed within this paper. Secondly, two different performances will be analyzed: Romeo Castellucci’s “M#10 Marseille” (2002) and “Fontaine Boréale” (2018). Prompted by intermedial issues, these two productions question the ontological claims of the human presence on stage by establishing digital stage simulation as a para-performative phenomenon. By analyzing these plays, I will demonstrate that in both examples, the Water Principle delivers a privileged media model through which aesthetic force is achieved. Finally, on a broader level, the paper suggests that the artistic trajectory of these productions calls for a new perspective on the nature of performance; a perspective emphasizing an aesthetics of disappearance and nonhuman structural impact.