| Project Detail |
An accordionist is in the spotlight during a performance by Colombian group Mapa Teatro. A projection above him reads: “My name is Miguel Alonso Molina aka «The Tiger» Zuleta. Demobilized musician from a guerrilla front that no longer exists. I am a generations dream, a dream turned into a nightmare. The promise of a life without enemies. I am a witness to the war and a theatrical invention.” The appearance of the alleged ex-guerrilla provokes numerous questions: what role did he play in the FARC? did he kill Is he a victim or a perpetrator? What does it mean to offer him a stage in Colombia and what does it mean to see him in Switzerland? The aestheticization of wartime violence is a challenge for the performing arts, since questions are raised about the implications of portraying perpetrators and victims, moments of violence or the transformation caused by wartime violence. Internationally active performance and theater makers have met her in recent years through the use of documents and witnesses. These visualize wartime violence through their representative use, their evidence and the associated claim to objectivity (Balke et al., 2020). They impart knowledge and enable a kind of participation in the events through emotionalisation (Steyerl, 2015). Questions about how war violence can be represented in relation to the documentary theater and performance scene and its fascination with a Western audience have so far been little researched. The focus of the artistic-scientific research project is the question of how wars and wartime violence are staged in the performing arts, what implications the use of documentary material has and what this means for the performance in the local and international context. The project is based on three closely interwoven sub-projects. Sub-project A is located in the civil war country of Colombia, where artistic works on the armed conflict can be accessed. The focus is on witness reports and documents from former child soldiers. By means of artistic research, strategies for illustrating experiences of violence are tested, presented and reflected on in a doctoral thesis. Accompaniment by a research team on site, which examines local practices, contributes a Colombian perspective. Subproject B is dedicated to a qualitative study of documentary strategies and the question of the potential of staging wartime violence. In particular, the "documentary guiding values" postulated in theory (Balke/Fahle, 2014) are asked about. A typology of strategies used is created with the help of a performance and staging analysis of four exemplary productions. Interviews are used to examine the perspectives of the artists and other people involved in the production. Sub-project C seeks to gain insights into the methodological synergies between artistic research and the cultural-scientific approach. A project ethnography is used to ask how the two sub-projects examine the staging of wartime violence, how they benefit from each other and how they can be made mutually fruitful. In this way, a contribution is made to the methodological discussion, particularly in artistic research. Two research performances are shown and two workshops are held to discuss the results, which will result in a book publication. The study results are published as a dissertation, habilitation or equivalent book and in articles. Two research performances will be shown and two workshops will be held to discuss results, resulting in a book publication. The study results are published as a dissertation, habilitation or equivalent book and in articles. Two research performances will be shown and two workshops will be held to discuss results, resulting in a book publication. The study results are published as a dissertation, habilitation or equivalent book and in articles. |
