Dalmasso, Frederic (2013) Badiou's Spectator-Subject and Fireworks Politics. Performance Research, 18 (1). pp. 77-83. ISSN 1352-8165
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Abstract
This article examines the political nature of fireworks as a paradigm for the relation between theatre and politics. It follows the firework trope from the work of Stéphane Mallarmé to that of Alain Badiou and suggests the symbolist poet’s quest for a mysterious collective leads to the philosopher’s attempt to materially account for the necessary inexistance of emancipatory movements against or away from State, party, class or label. While for Mallarmé, the collective is the vanishing term for art, for Badiou, it is the vanishing term for politics. This article examines how, following the ephemeral May 1871 or May 1968 events, both thinkers deplore the absence of emancipatory movements and turn to theatre to think the collective as theatre provides them with an allegory similar to that of the fireworks to suggest that the political potential of the crowd resides in its ability to disperse and resist being labelled. Building upon these two allegories, this article investigates how spectators can become points of reference to map out a present of politics and how Badiou’s notion of ‘body’ and ‘trace’ developed in Logics of Worlds can be used to reactivate the political nature of Badiou’s theory of theatre.
Item Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | The electronic full-text cannot be supplied for this item. Please check availability with your local library or Interlibrary Requests Service. |
Uncontrolled Discrete Keywords: | theatre, politics, fireworks, Stéphene Mallarme, Alain Badiou |
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) H Social Sciences > HX Socialism. Communism. Anarchism J Political Science > JA Political science (General) N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general |
Divisions: | College of Arts, Humanities and Education > School of Arts |
Related URLs: | |
Depositing User: | Frederic Dalmasso |
Date Deposited: | 13 Sep 2013 12:11 |
Last Modified: | 17 Jun 2020 16:59 |
URI: | https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/id/eprint/2380 |
Available Versions of this Item
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Badiou's Spectator-Subject and Fireworks Politics. (deposited 01 Mar 2013 11:47)
- Badiou's Spectator-Subject and Fireworks Politics. (deposited 13 Sep 2013 12:11) [Currently Displayed]
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