Emblematic Space
Tomasz Kubikowski
The Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1028-9624
Abstract
In this paper, the author traces the connections between the art of the theater and the art of the emblem. Revisiting the work of Albrecht Schöne and referring to the present theories of the emblem, the author claims that both art forms employ performance, which inseparably connects them. Emblematic structures can be found both in the beginnings of a theatrical performance (the play or the script) and in its remains (the documentation of the performance). The emblem is therefore the ultimate medium of the theater’s influence and transmission at the longest social distance, when any direct link of the audience with the original performance has already vanished. We can observe that theater more oriented towards social impact tends to utilize emblematics all the more willingly. Finally, the author introduces the notion of the “emblematic space”: an abstract categorial space, which is constituted and transformed through performance, containing it as its “stage.” Theater’s task is creating such spaces; in everyday social life, they arise spontaneously as emanations of the collective hopes or expectations; they are also set up by individual efforts. (Trans. T. Kubikowski)
Supporting Agencies
Keywords:
performance theory, theater emblematics, social theater, emblem theoryReferences
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Authors
Tomasz KubikowskiThe Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1028-9624
Prof. Tomasz Kubikowski is a theatre and performance studies scholar, Professor at the Theatre Academy in Warsaw and Literary Director of the National Theatre in Warsaw. His has authored a number of books, including Siedem bytów teatralnych (The Seven Theatre Beings, 1994), Reguła Nibelunga (The Nibelung Principle, 2004), Teatralne doświadczenie Wilhelma Meistra (Wilhelm Meister’s Theatrical Experience, 2014), Przeżyć na scenie (Surviving On Stage, 2015), as well as reviews and essays in journals and collected volumes. He has translated books by Richard Schechner and Jon McKenzie. Together with Edyta Kubikowska, he co-edited Zbigniew Raszewski’s Raptularz (Diary, 2004). Together with Magdalena Raszewska, he co-edited seven volumes of Dzieje Teatru Narodowego (History of National Theatre, 2015). Member of Komitet Nauk o Sztuce PAN (2015-2019). Member of editorial boards in Performer and Stanislavski Studies.
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