THE LIQUID ACTOR
Performing and living in the liquid modernity
0-introduction
1-multimedia reflection
2-written reflection
3- TRIC, the show
0-introduction
1-multimedia reflection
2-written reflection
3- TRIC, the show
"Progress has turned into a sort of endless and uninterrupted game of musical chairs in which a moment of inattention results in irreversible defeat and irrevocable exclusion. Instead of great expectations and sweet dreams "progress" evokes insomnia full of nightmares of being left behind - of missing the train, or falling out of the window of a fast accelerating vehicle."
Zygmunt Bauman "Liquid Time: living in an age of uncertainty", P. 10-11, Polity Edition
0-introduction
Welcome to my final project's documentation. This documentation is composed of three parts:
- an introduction that has the purpose of introducing you to the topics I'm working with;
- a final map in the form of a video that has been edited by me with the idea to bring you on a liquid accelerated time and space. Sometimes you may find it difficult to read or you may experience an overlap of layers (voiceover and slides). Your experience is meant to be this way.
- a final map is in the form of slides that you can read at your own pace :-)
How do I produce, play and direct as an actor who lives today in our Liquid modernity?
The concept of liquid modernity was coined by the sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman as a metaphor to describe the condition of constant mobility and change he sees in relationships, identities, and global economics within contemporary society.
Fragility, temporariness, vulnerability, and inclination to constant change. To be modern means to modernize. compulsively, obsessively; not so much just "to be", let alone to keep its identity intact, but forever "becoming", avoiding completion, staying underdefined.
Change is the only permanence, and uncertainty is the only certainty.
Uncertainty and precarity become part of our life, even more in the artistic field.
Inspired by Zygmunt Bauman's philosophy ("Liquid Modernity", Polity Edition, 2000), I ask myself:
Can we talk about a new shape of actor, which I name the LIQUID ACTOR? A contemporary multi-face ever changing and "updating" actor (mover, performer, dancer, multimedia content creator, entrepreneur) whose thoughts, constantly interrupted by a new notification, run in a future, in a new project, in which they will be asked to find a new professional shape.
"Fluidity is the quality of liquids and gases. What distinguishes both of them from solids is that they can not sustain a tangential, or shearing, force when at rest and so undergo a continuous change in shape when subjected to such a stress."
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
As an actress, my job is to stay in the present moment reacting to what is happening on stage (in that space where my body is breathing) in that very moment (in that time).
On the contrary, in my daily liquid life, I live constantly projected into a future: my body is in a place but I react to circumstances and imputs (email, notifications, video calls) that bring me to another space and future time
I'm interested in exploring this conflict.
What kind of strategies we, as actors, can implement to live a sustainable artistic and personal life?
How do I produce, play and direct as an actor who lives today in our Liquid modernity?
During the production of the show TRIC, I will explore LIQUIDITY ON DIFFERENT LAYERS.
Fragility, temporariness, vulnerability, and inclination to constant change. To be modern means to modernize. compulsively, obsessively; not so much just "to be", let alone to keep its identity intact, but forever "becoming", avoiding completion, staying underdefined.
Change is the only permanence, and uncertainty is the only certainty.
Uncertainty and precarity become part of our life, even more in the artistic field.
Inspired by Zygmunt Bauman's philosophy ("Liquid Modernity", Polity Edition, 2000), I ask myself:
Can we talk about a new shape of actor, which I name the LIQUID ACTOR? A contemporary multi-face ever changing and "updating" actor (mover, performer, dancer, multimedia content creator, entrepreneur) whose thoughts, constantly interrupted by a new notification, run in a future, in a new project, in which they will be asked to find a new professional shape.
"Fluidity is the quality of liquids and gases. What distinguishes both of them from solids is that they can not sustain a tangential, or shearing, force when at rest and so undergo a continuous change in shape when subjected to such a stress."
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
As an actress, my job is to stay in the present moment reacting to what is happening on stage (in that space where my body is breathing) in that very moment (in that time).
On the contrary, in my daily liquid life, I live constantly projected into a future: my body is in a place but I react to circumstances and imputs (email, notifications, video calls) that bring me to another space and future time
I'm interested in exploring this conflict.
What kind of strategies we, as actors, can implement to live a sustainable artistic and personal life?
How do I produce, play and direct as an actor who lives today in our Liquid modernity?
During the production of the show TRIC, I will explore LIQUIDITY ON DIFFERENT LAYERS.
IN TERMS OF METHOD:
- I'm exploring a liquid artistic role in which I'm at the same time producer, director, concept creator and actress.
- I'm exploring an extreme relationship between me, as human creator, and the new technologies: the App is leading the creation of the show.
- I'm exploring a liquid concept of characters with moments in which the borderline between character and persona is liquid.
- I'm creating the show with a team dislocated physically in different spaces
IN TERMS OF CONTENTS:
- I'm questioning, challenging, and maybe criticizing the concept of liquid democracy. "In a liquid democracy, citizens are permitted to more directly share their votes and support certain policies rather than having to rely fully on politicians and regional representatives to do so. Using modern technology, today’s citizens can instead be more active in forming the laws that govern them." (source: https://liquid-democracy-journal.org)
- I'm exploring how liquid modernity leads to a crisis of representation. Political representation but also artistic: today, as an actress, I'm very often asked to use my personal stories to become a performer. I feel in the field a growing interest in seeing on stage "not actors" but "real people". If we imagine a future without the representation of professional politicians, can we as well imagine a future without actors representing stories?
POLITICAL LAYER: What is true and what is not. News vs fakenews
LAYER IN THE MIDDLE, in which politic meets theatre: reality vs representation (ordinary people instead of politicians, ordinary people instead of actors???)
ACTING LAYER: overacting, acting and not acting
1-multimedia reflection
2-written reflection
3-tric
The Liquid Actor in accelerated Time and Space:
Concept and Directing: Anna Carla Maria Penati
Actors: Anna Carla Maria Penati, Marco Zavarise, Eleonora Angioletti
Playwright and Multimedia: Elizabeth Torres Hansen
Tech: Domenico Mannelli
Scientific Lead & IT Project Coordinator: Mariano Pugliese
App development: Bogdan-Alexandru Mezei, Daria Popa, Natali Munk-Jakobsen (VIA
University College, DK)
Produced by HumanLab (humanlab.studio)
TRIC - "The Real Insight Challenge" is a show that questions “augmented democracy" and civic participation, reality and representation, character and persona, visibility and intimacy through the lens of a game show.
TRIC is also an app, ad hoc created for the show, which allows the audience to vote and affect the development of the show. The play follows two contestants as they compete in a series of challenges, inspired by the legacy of Greek democratic practices, reflected on the mirror of our contemporary existence.
What is true and what is not? What is reality and what is representation? What is acting and what isn’t?
PLOT:
In a dystopic near future humanity got rid of politicians: “they were too corrupt, selfish and detached from the problems and needs of ordinary people” Humanity, therefore, created a new technological form of the democratic decision process: the digital app “TRIC" which will select two completely ordinary citizens to lead the political debate: Mat, a very shy, awkward guy who has a background in technology and programming and Jess, a housewife trying to be an influencer but not really sure why. The play follows the two contestants as they compete in a gameshow, i.e. a series of debates (regarding climate change, sustainability, and global resources). Here the app TRIC invites the spectators to vote for their preferred candidate...
VIA University students' bachelor project:
| project-process_report.pdf |
Sources :
- "Liquid Modernity" by Zygmunt Bauman, Polity Edition (2000)
- "Liquid Time: living in an age of uncertainty" by Zygmunt Bauman, Polity Edition (2007)
- "Liquid life" by Zygmunt Bauman, Polity Edition (2005)
- "Non-places" by Marc Auge', Verso books (2009)
- Videocracy (2009) documentary film by Erik Gandini (Italy-Sweden)
- Active Analysis/L'analisi della piece e del ruolo mediante l'azione, by Marija Knebel'(a cura di Alessio Bergamo), Ubulibri (2009)
- "Vertigo", an exhibition at Aros Museum, Denmark. In particular: the video you find in my video portfolio is by Jeremy Shaw: "Phase-shifting index" (2020)
- "The Transparent Society" by Byung-Chul Han, Stanford ed. (2015)
- Videocracy (2009) documentary film by Erik Gandini (Italy-Sweden) "
