Intermediality, Performance and the Public Sphere: Selected papers from recent meetings of the Tangier International Conferences (International Collaboration Series, North Africa)

This volume features a selection of key papers that were originally presented at recent meetings of the Tangier International Conferences. Convened amidst the still unfolding so-called ‘Arab Spring’, the themes of intermediality, performance and the public sphere have generated immense interest around the globe. Included are contributions from leading scholars on three continents and from a dozen countries: Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, and USA.

The book has two parts. The first focuses on the intermedial connections of theater, dance and the visual arts, with a specific concentration in documentary theatre, new media practices, staged photography and installations.

The second part aims at reframing the discussion on the public sphere and questioning the performative articulations of political critique. Indeed, the revolutionary "Arab Spring" has been fueled as never before by a ‘techno-imagination’ —a powerful and ever evolving relationship between images and texts.

A total of twenty-four papers are presented including: a preface by the editors; two chapters translated into English (from the original Arabic); three chapters presented in the original French, and three chapters contributed by emerging scholars.

Contents and authors: Prologue: Performing Tangier – K Amine and GF Roberson; I. Intermediality and Performance. Collaborative Choreography and Intermediality in Contemporary Dance: Frédéric Gies’ “danse praticable” – G Brandstetter; In the Mix: Contemporary Intermedial Theatre and Hybridity – A Lavender; Theatre in a State of Latency: The Radical Criticism of Rabih Mroué Performative Lectures – K Arfara; Revitalizing Opera on TV: Alexander Kluge’s TV Program “A Woman like a Volcano” – Klemens Gruber; Talking in the City - based on the performance “in/of the city”: Tangier – LB Clark and M Peterson; The Ceremony of Transformation: Performance and the New Media – JL Delgado Guitart; Le théâtre au regard de la performance – P Katuszewski; Rabih Mroué et Lina Saneh, Comment ralentir l'occultation du corps/individu – O Fertat; II. Performance and the Public Sphere. The Performativity of Protest in its Filmic and Digital Representation – S Barber; The Sound of the Street – Performance, Sound and Revolution in 1848 – M Wagner; “Nonviolent Terrorism” or the Legitimate Performance of Resistance? Hunger Strikes, Death Fasts, and a Habermasian Conception of Political Action and the Public Sphere – A Bartholomew; Western Im/Mobility: LIGNA’s Radioballet, Western Transit Zones and the Public Sphere – W-D Ernst; Riot of Dwarfs: on a possible negotiation of aisthesis – B Szymanski-Düll; One Needs a Voice to Express Indignation: Debtors’ Oxymoronic Presence in the Public Sphere – I Morska; Protest in the Arab Theatre: A Historical Outlook – H Lamniai, translated by J Radouani; Le dernier Carnival de Dijon: Une politique festive et genrée – P Whalen; Performing Public Sphere: Theatre in Current Zimbabwe – J Heinicke; Scheherezade Goes West: Acting Out ‘as a’ Pakistani/American/Muslim/Wo/Man – F Afzal-Khan; Arab Writers: Arab Spring. The Arab Spring: An Unprecedented Spectacle – RS Nezami; Touria Jebrane: The Dynamics of Coincidence and Careful Choice - An Extract from Balaghat Al-Iltibass (Rhetoric of Ambiguity) – M Bahjaji, translated by J Radouani and A Al-Amrani; Emerging Scholars. Je danserai malgré tout!: Tunisian public space performances in times of democratic transition – A Serlenga; Traces of Operation Desert Storm: Aesthetic Transformations of War – K Flade; Exclusivity and the Colonisation of the Public Sphere in African Performance – B Ojoniyi