Dance in Translation: Subjectivity, Failed Spectatorship and Tolerance
Dansul în traducere: subiectivitate, ratarea audienţei şi toleranţă

Summary/Abstract: Roland Barthes’ concept of punctum informs this analysis of crosscultural spectatorship of Solum, a performance by Mustafa Kaplan. Series of puncta stimulate spectators’ interpretations in live or mediatized performance where meaning is mostly layered in the visual. The puncta “prick” moments from spectators’ memory and consciousnesses. They are not within the imagination, but within the images. A “writerly” – as Barthes would call it- performance, such as Solum, asks the spectator to multiply the meaning(s) inherent in it, in a constant process of production – or reproduction - each time the performance meets the spectator(s). Spectators, by accepting failure in recognizing the creator’s meaning in a performance, engage in a project of subjectivity, and reveal their cultural identity during this translation process. Understanding the process of (mis)translation helps build tolerance.

• Details
• Contents