Gesturing refugees: participation, affect, then action?

Saleh, F. (2021) Gesturing refugees: participation, affect, then action? H-ART, 8(2021), pp. 63-88. (doi: 10.25025/hart08.2021.05)

Abstract

In this article I analyze through practice-based research how unearthing alternative narratives of refugeehood using the bodies of artists and audience members in the participatory performance Gesturing Refugees can contribute towards an interchange between the subjectivities present in the space, the creation of future responsibility, and a potential for action after the performance. I explain how a performance can turn into an event through participation, where the audience is considered as a collective of singularities and is invited to feel-think together, through a series of microshocks. Moreover, I reflect on how the event enables the audience to experience alternative stories and gestures of refugeehood by reenacting, transforming, and deforming the gestures in their own bodies, carrying them beyond the performance space and creating an afterlife of the event that could materialize in different degrees and forms.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Saleh, Dr Farah
• Authors: Saleh, F.
• Subjects: N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies
• Journal Name: H-ART
• Publisher: University of the Andes
• ISSN: 2953-2263
• ISSN (Online): 2590-9126
• Copyright Holders: Copyright 2021 © Universidad de los Andes
• First Published: First published in 8(2021):63-88
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license