(Re)Presenting Theatrical Concepts of Being: Histrionic Explorations by 
Ariane Mnouchkine, Carmelo Bene and Jerzy Grotowski

Project director: Gabriele C. Pfeiffer
Duration: 01.06.2013–31.08.2019
Funding body: FWF / Elise Richter Programme


Based on the fundamental anthropological question of existence, this research and habilitation project "(Re)Presenting Theatrical Concepts of Being: Histronic Explorations by Ariane Mnouchkine, Carmelo Bene and Jerzy Grotowski" will examine specific forms of theatre with regard to philosophical and historical-anthropological discourses. Its focus will be on theatrical practices that have been repeatedly employed since the 1970s, the traces and effects of which are to be made visible until our times. The goal is thus to develop a set of tools for an extensive discussion of the performing arts, as well as for the enhanced analysis of stagings and performances. This will include the reading of performing art theories that are on the sidelines of established methods of interpretation and evaluation, and the development of a reevaluated perception of theatre and the performing arts.

Up to our present times, various philosophical, biological and medical disciplines have focused on humanitas as the center of their research. Surprisingly, the various approaches, methods and results all culminate in the inevitable finale of death. In an occidental context, this continuing humiliation of the individual subject calls for various different strategies and techniques to overcome it, depending on the cultural circle, place and time. A perspective on the dilemma of the inevitability of death in the scope of theatre studies illustrates that the inherent play instinct of humankind gives us the option of acting, meaning that the performing arts are one way of dealing with the knowledge of our finite existence. Not only do actors and actresses perform in place of others; they simultaneously draw our attention to "another world." The concepts they offer will be examined in this project according to three theatre practitioners: Ariane Mnouchkine (1939–) and her theatre group "Théâtre du Soleil;" Carmelo Bene (1939–2002) and his "Non-Teatro;" as well as Jerzy Grotowski (1933–1999) and his focus on "art as vehicle." The analytical systematical research work will be based on the theatre anthropological studies by Eugenio Barba with his Odin Teatret and ISTA (International School of Theatre Anthropology) in Denmark; as well as studies by Piergiorgio Giacchè in Perugia on the performing machine (Antropologia di una macchina attoriale 1997); and the work by theatre scholar Gerda Baumbach in Leipzig (Schauspieler, Historische Anthropologie des Akteurs 2012 and editor of Theaterkunst und Heilkunst 2002), whose extensive research lies in the context of historical-anthropological studies.

In addition, an interdisciplinary set of methods will be used for the hermeneutical approach. On the one hand this will be oriented to poststructuralist research (J. Baudrillard, J. Butler, H. Cixous, G. Deleuze and S. Zižek) and historical anthropology (C. Wulf), as well as taking into consideration applied psychological and neurological research in the science of sports, including flow experiences (M. Csikszentmihalyi and G. Hüther). Their results will be applied to performing arts and acting from the perspective of theatre studies in order to address our contemporary knowledge of human existence, the question of the historical-cultural-social subject and his/her despair, which is (re)presented by means of interpretations in the performing arts.