Table Of ContentStaging Spectators in Immersive
Performances
At present, we are witnessing a significant transformation of established
forms of spectatorship in theatre, performance art and beyond. In particu-
lar, immersive and participatory forms of theatre allow audiences and per-
formers to interact in a shared performance space.
Staging Spectators in Immersive Performances discusses forms and con-
cepts of contemporary spectatorship and explores various modes of audi-
ence participation in theory as well as in practice. The volume also reflects
on what new terms and methods must be developed in order to address the
theoretical challenges of contemporary immersive performances.
Split into three parts, Staging Spectators in Immersive Performances,
respectively, focuses on various strategies for mobilising the audience,
methodological questions for research on being a spectator in immersive
and participatory forms of theatre, and thematising new modes of partak-
ing and ways of spectating in contemporary art.
Poignantly capturing experiences that can be viewed as manifestations of
affective relationality in the strongest possible sense, this volume will appeal
to students and researchers interested in fields such as Theatre and Perfor-
mance Studies, Media Studies and Philosophy.
Doris Kolesch is Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies and a co-
director of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)-funded Collab-
orative Research Center (CRC) “Affective Societies” at Freie Universität
Berlin, Germany.
Theresa Schütz is a theatre scholar and research assistant working in the
CRC “Affective Societies” at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
Sophie Nikoleit is a theatre scholar and research assistant working in the
CRC “Affective Societies” at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
Routledge Studies in Affective Societies
Birgitt Röttger-Rössler is Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology
at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Doris Kolesch is Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Routledge Studies in Affective Societies presents high-level academic work
on the social dimensions of human affectivity. It aims to shape, consolidate
and promote a new understanding of societies as Affective Societies, ac-
counting for the fundamental importance of affect and emotion for human
coexistence in the mobile and networked worlds of the 21st century. Contri-
butions come from a wide range of academic fields, including anthropology,
sociology, cultural, media and film studies, political science, performance
studies, art history, philosophy, and social, developmental and cultural psy-
chology. Contributing authors share the vision of a transdisciplinary un-
derstanding of the affective dynamics of human sociality. Thus, Routledge
Studies in Affective Societies devotes considerable space to the development
of methodology, research methods and techniques that are capable of unit-
ing perspectives and practices from different fields.
2 Image Testimonies
Witnessing in Times of Social Media
Edited by Kerstin Schankweiler, Verena Straub and Tobias Wendl
3 Affective Societies
Key Concepts
Edited by Jan Slaby and Christian von Scheve
4 Analyzing Affective Societies
Methods and Methodologies
Edited by Antje Kahl
5 Staging Spectators in Immersive Performances
Commit Yourself!
Edited by Doris Kolesch, Theresa Schütz and Sophie Nikoleit
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Studies-in-Affective-Societies/book-series/RSAS
Staging Spectators in
Immersive Performances
Commit Yourself!
Edited by Doris Kolesch,
Theresa Schütz and
Sophie Nikoleit
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2019 selection and editorial matter, Doris Kolesch, Theresa
Schütz, Sophie Nikoleit; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Doris Kolesch, Theresa Schütz, Sophie Nikoleit
to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of
the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kolesch, Doris, editor. | Schütz, Theresa, editor. |
Nikoleit, Sophie, editor.
Title: Staging spectators in immersive performances : commit
yourself! / Doris Kolesch, Theresa Schütz, Sophie Nikoleit.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019001319 | ISBN 9780367187965 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780429198274 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Participatory theater. | Performance art. |
Spectators.
Classification: LCC PN2049 .S664 2019 | DDC 792—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019001319
ISBN: 978-0-367-18796-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-19827-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
Contents
List of figures vii
List of tables ix
List of contributors xi
Acknowledgements xv
Funding note xvii
1 Immersion and spectatorship at the interface of theatre,
media tech and daily life: an introduction 1
DoRIS KoleSCh
PArT I
Mobile audiences 19
2 Unexpected encounter: on installation art as immersive space 21
BARBARA GRonAU
3 Doggies, masters and the end of the European Union: on
immersive theatre installations by SIGNA and Thomas Bellinck 35
BenjAMIn WIhSTUTz
4 On the impossibility of being together 52
A ConveRSATIon BeTWeen PeRFoRMAnCe ARTIST
SIGnA KöSTleR AnD TheReSA SChüTz
5 Bordering and shattering the stage: mobile audiences as
compositional forces 59
lIeSBeTh GRooT nIBBelInK
6 Structures of spectatorship 72
KeRSTIn SChAnKWeIleR
vi Contents
PArT II
researching spectatorship 79
7 Keep it real 81
A ConveRSATIon BeTWeen PeRFoRMAnCe ARTIST
jUlIAn heTzel AnD TheReSA SChüTz
8 Participatory audiencing and the committed return 88
MATTheW ReASon
9 Immersive art – immersive research? 103
STeFAnIe hUSel
10 Parsing ‘commitment’: the multiple valences of spectatorship 116
jAnelle ReInelT
11 The case for empirical audience research 136
AnTje KAhl
PArT III
Questions of power – politics of affect in
immersive performances 141
12 Feminism, audience interaction, and performer authority 143
jen hARvIe
13 The promise of participation revisited: affective strategies of
participation 159
GAReTh WhITe
14 Capturing complexity while being pressed for time 170
A ConveRSATIon BeTWeen SCenoGRAPheR
MonA el GAMMAl AnD TheReSA SChüTz
15 Immersive guilt factories 178
TheReSA SChüTz
16 Dark immersion: some thoughts on SIGNA’s Wir Hunde/Us Dogs 198
RAIneR MühlhoFF
List of figures
2.1 Werner Tübke, Frühbürgerliche Revolution in Deutschland,
1983–87, oil on canvas, 14 × 123 m, Panorama Museum,
Bad Frankenhausen 22
2.2 Hotel Savoy by Dominic Huber/blendwerk, Hebbel am
Ufer Berlin 30
2.3 Hotel Savoy by Dominic Huber/blendwerk, Hebbel am
Ufer Berlin 31
3.1 Wir Hunde/Us Dogs by SIGNA, Wiener Festwochen,
Frederick von Lüttichau 36
3.2 Wir Hunde/Us Dogs by SIGNA, Wiener Festwochen,
Amanda Babaei Vieira 37
3.3 Wir Hunde/Us Dogs by SIGNA, Wiener Festwochen,
Ivana Sokola 37
3.4 House of European History in Exile by Thomas Bellinck,
Brussels 39
3.5 House of European History in Exile by Thomas Bellinck, Athens 40
3.6 House of European History in Exile by Thomas Bellinck, Vienna 40
4.1 Das Heuvolk/The Hay People by SIGNA, Mannheimer
Schillertage, Ensemble 56
7.1 The Automated Sniper by Julian Hetzel 83
8.1 Alex responding to For MG: The Movie by Scottish Ballet 96
8.2 Teigan responding to Echoa by Compagnie Aarcosm 97
9.1 Waveform 1 108
9.2 Waveform 2 110
10.1 Fight Night by Ontroerend Goed, Aurélie Lannoy, Angelo
Tijssens, and Charlotte De Bruyne 123
12.1 Sam Kennedy, Lucy McCormick and Ted Rogers in
Triple Threat 151
12.2 Lucy McCormick in Triple Threat 151
14.1 Rhizomat by Mona el Gammal, Waiting Room 171
14.2 Rhizomat by Mona el Gammal, Laboratory 174
viii List of figures
15.1 Guilty Landscapes, episode II by Dries verhoeven 181
15.2 Schuldfabrik/Guilt Factory by julian hetzel, pop-up store 188
15.3 Schuldfabrik/Guilt Factory by julian hetzel, Dr hennie Spronk 189
All graphic recordings in this volume by graphicrecording.cool.
List of tables
8.1 Michael responding to Hush by Rambert Dance Company 99
9.1 Transcription 1 108
9.2 Transcription 2 111
