The presence of the screening in Cristina Maldonado’s Sayat Nova
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| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | In following paper, I present the production Sayat Nova of the czech based mexican artist Cristina Maldonado. The production is based on eponymous Sergei Parajanov`s famous film (also called The Color of Pomegrenates, 1968). The film itself could be considered as palimpsest for its topic and inspiration (life of the poet Sayat-Nova, traditional armenian theatre, christian icons) as well as for its background story (censorship, non authorized editing, re-naming). Maldonado, who works on the edge of visual and conceptual art, dance, theatre and interactive media, supports the sense of unfolding different layers of film and confront and interpret it through through performative acts such as distortion of the screen, life editing and music. In my paper, I target the relation between the image and its projection and between the dominance of the act of screening and the weakening of the presence of the performers. The concept of “aura” by Walter Benjamin (and its historical reformulation), the notion of “the ecstasy of things” by Gernot Böhme and the concept of “presence” as formulated by Erika Fischer Lichte are utilized to explain it. The theatrical means through which the “presence” of actors, the “ecstasy” of the act of screening and recreation of the “aura” of the film-object is performed on stage is discussed. Historical and analytical approach is combined to describe the blending of older practices deriving from collages, laterna magica slide shows or attractional display of the early cinema with contemporary performative arts, post-spectacular theatre and so called live cinema. |
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