Energy and Forces as Aesthetic Interventions

1. Why did You chose this topic?

Many people talk about energy conceptually, especially when it comes to qualifying performances, dance or theatre events. While in the 18th century emotion was regarded as the aesthetic force of art, today this force seems to be an ›energetic‹ quality. Yet, do we know what to perceive from the conception and observation of the ›energetic‹? What does its discourse entail? The volume focuses on energetic processes, which become perceivable via staged, experimental or choreographic arrangements.

2. What new perspectives does your book offer?

The energetic is the main focus of debate in the performing arts even above all other politics of perception and corporeality. This volume highlights practices that convert the body's gift of moving itself into an aesthetic work, following the intense desire for transgression, intensification and transformation. The contributions explore real strategies and utopian possibilities of the energetic as aesthetic interventions, which oscillate between critique and longing for transgression and harmony.

3. What makes your topic relevant for current research debates?

Talking about energy means considering a key cultural term. Especially in contemporary theatre, energetic processes form the very centre of artistic practice: Bodies and constellations are transformed through them, specific states and forces are evoked, and intensive effects are produced. As the energetic has rarely been developed as an aesthetic category in dance and theatre studies, this volume proposes new approaches, to reflect and analyze energetic qualities in their aesthetic potentials.

4. Choose one person you would like to discuss your book with!

Joseph Beuys & Jean-Luc Nancy.

5. Your book summary in one sentence:

This volume investigates the potential of the energetic and discusses concepts of this dazzling figure as aesthetic interventions in dance and theater.