Temporalities of Reenactment: A Speaker Series, 2011-2012

Andre Lepecki,

Performance Studies, New York University

Not as Before, but Again: Reenactments and “Transcreation”

The recent retrospective of the work of Marina Abramovic at MOMA in New York brought to wide public attention the phenomenon of what she called the “reperformance” of her earlier work, which had only existed until then as one-time events recorded on film.  Bringing this ephemeral performance work into the museum space as a live artifact raised consciousness of a broader trend currently taking place in contemporary dance, theatre, film, video and performance art.  Reenactment raises questions of the differences between reconstruction, revival, adaptation, reinvention, quotation, amplification, and the kinds of temporalities these strategies to recover past performance signify. But beyond the terminological questions, issues of artist identity, authenticity, and history emerge in direct relationship with performative documentary activity. The question of the event and the document become dramatically foregrounded. The question of trauma and catharsis in relation to reenactment is salient as became clear in our first seminar with Chip Lord and Magaret Morse.