Objectives:

In the first two phases of our project (1999-2001, 2002-2004), we developed a concept of performance as basis for an aesthetics of the performative. That concept of performance is applicable to theatre and performance art as well as to all kinds of performances in other art forms and various fields of culture in general. Based on this concept of performance, and addressing contemporary theatre (including music theatre, performance art and installation art), we developed specific models for an aesthetics of the performative.

In order to understand the different occurrences of performative processes, we conducted our research on different levels and with different emphases:

a) As theoretical reflections in which the relationship between presence and representation is determined within the framework of an aesthetics of the performative (Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Erika Fischer-Lichte);
b) As development of a method for describing the relationship between presence and representation in which performativity in theatre is understood as opportunity for a phenomenologically oriented analysis of performances (Dr. Jens Roselt);
c) As analysis of music theatre with regard to performativity and the relationship between presence and representation (Dr. Clemens Risi);
d) As analysis of interrelations between affective empathy and cognitive interpretation in theatre. Here especially perceptions of the atmospheric qualities in contemporary theatre are considered (Sabine Schouten, M.A.);
e) As analysis of the relationship between subject and object in the experience of spatiality, in which space, body and actions are considered as performative dimensions in installation art (Barbara Gronau, M.A.);
f) As research about rehearsal processes where text and performances emerge almost at the same time and in close connection to each other – a research in which the action of actors is considered a paradigm (Dr. Christel Weiler).

Our research proved that the interrelations between intentional bringing to appearance and accidental appearing, between planning and emerging are crucial for an aesthetics of the performative. It became clear that traditional heuristic distinctions between aesthetic production and aesthetic perception could not be sustained with regard to performances. We discovered that performativity in performance could not be conceived of without the notion of emergence. This is equally true for the appearance of certain phenomena and for generating specific meanings. Performances in general are not to be completely controlled by individuals. In a sense they are inaccessible. In performances, participants neither experience themselves as autonomous nor as being directed. They as well govern the course of a performance as they are determined by it. On this basis we are now able to extend the models we have developed as well as scrutinize their applicability on historical phenomena.

In its third phase the project aims at transforming the above mentioned models into a theory that could describe and explain the complex interplay between intention and emergence in performances more exactly as particular exponents of aesthetic processes. Two different sets of questions seem especially important for this objective:
On the one hand the expansion of our models with regard to aspects that have not been considered sufficiently or neglected seems to be mandatory. This, for instance, refers to the relationship between text and performance. Whereas text is traditionally understood as controlling body for the creation of performance, we would like to ask, whether or not and how – beside other factors – it is especially text that provokes phenomena of emergence in performance (subproject 1). In addition to text, we only marginally considered theories of acting. These theories of acting, however, represent both particular theories of performative creation and thus particular theories of action. So it seems to be necessary to study them with regard to the aesthetics of the performative (subproject 2). It also seems important to continue our research on phenomena of emergence. In this it seems to be important to concentrate on cases of omission and ask how they trigger effects of emergence. How do non-acting, omission and asceticism produce scope for play, chance and accident and thus make the unplanned and unexpected appear and emerge (subproject 3)?
On the other hand it seems necessary to reflect upon the historical range of the models we have developed. We want to scrutinize whether they can productively be applied to other historical epochs of theatre, art and culture, and the respective performances we cannot participate anymore. Our research is supposed to approach this question through a topic that has proven to be very productive in our work on the interrelations of intention and emergence: the topic of representation and evocation of emotions. We will focus particularly on the relationship between regulation and deviation. How do the rules of representing affects and emotions that are defined in special theories of affections and acting relate to the ‘actual’ presentations that are documented in different testimonies? To explore these questions we focus on early 17th century opera (subproject 4) and theatrical acting from the second half of the 19th and early 20th century (subproject 5).

According to this road map our work is conducted in five subprojects:
Subproject 1: "Performance and Text" (Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Erika Fischer-Lichte)
Subproject 2: "Theories of Acting and Action" (Dr. Christel Weiler)
Subproject 3: "Aesthetics of Omission" (Barbara Gronau, M.A.)
Subproject 4: "The Operatic Stage as an Experimental Space for Affections – Considerations about the Concepts of Affections in 17th century’s Music Theatre" (Dr. Clemens Risi)
Subproject 5: "Industrialization of Emotions – Theatre and Technique at the End of the 19th Century" (Dr. Jens Roselt)

Successor projects for UP 3:
"Participation of the Gazes. Interactive Machanisms of Gazes in Theatre" (Adam Czirak, M.A.)
"Collective Storytelling. Participatory Narrative Practices in the Performance-Theatre of the Millenium" (Nina Tecklenburg, M.A.)

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