This thesis addresses the question: What role does the material environment and its affordances p... more This thesis addresses the question: What role does the material environment and its affordances play in the creation and experience of contemporary circus works? At the core of contemporary circus practice is an innovative and experimental approach to the use of tools, devices, objects, and materials. Despite this, only a few articles mention and even fewer take seriously this extra- human dimension of the circus. Such neglect could be traced back to the deeply ingrained dualisms, such as mind-body, and human-environment, that still affect contemporaneous research in the arts. The theory of affordances, developed by James J. Gibson, offers a language and conceptual toolbox for overcoming such dualisms. At the core of Gibson’s thesis is the notion of affordances, defined as possibilities for action present within the environment. The author suggests that applying Gibson's ideas to the contemporary circus can reveal the intricate relationship between the artistic and material dimensions of the contemporary circus. Consequently, the author introduces an ecological approach to creativity and applies it to three chosen works: Slava Polunin’s Slava’s Snowshow, Circ Cia’s ENVA, and Yoann Bourgeois’ The Great Ghosts. Applying the notion of affordances to the chosen circus works has revealed that contemporary circus deals with the exploration and expansion of behavioural possibilities offered to the human by the environment. Such expansion is achieved by developing new devices with new affordances, including materials and devices uncharacteristic to the circus practice, and taking an innovative approach towards the application of skills to novel material landscapes. Keywords: contemporary circus, circus devices, skill, affordances.
This thesis addresses the question: What role does the material environment and its affordances p... more This thesis addresses the question: What role does the material environment and its affordances play in the creation and experience of contemporary circus works? At the core of contemporary circus practice is an innovative and experimental approach to the use of tools, devices, objects, and materials. Despite this, only a few articles mention and even fewer take seriously this extra- human dimension of the circus. Such neglect could be traced back to the deeply ingrained dualisms, such as mind-body, and human-environment, that still affect contemporaneous research in the arts. The theory of affordances, developed by James J. Gibson, offers a language and conceptual toolbox for overcoming such dualisms. At the core of Gibson’s thesis is the notion of affordances, defined as possibilities for action present within the environment. The author suggests that applying Gibson's ideas to the contemporary circus can reveal the intricate relationship between the artistic and material dimensions of the contemporary circus. Consequently, the author introduces an ecological approach to creativity and applies it to three chosen works: Slava Polunin’s Slava’s Snowshow, Circ Cia’s ENVA, and Yoann Bourgeois’ The Great Ghosts. Applying the notion of affordances to the chosen circus works has revealed that contemporary circus deals with the exploration and expansion of behavioural possibilities offered to the human by the environment. Such expansion is achieved by developing new devices with new affordances, including materials and devices uncharacteristic to the circus practice, and taking an innovative approach towards the application of skills to novel material landscapes. Keywords: contemporary circus, circus devices, skill, affordances.
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Papers by Mark A . Liberman
Keywords: contemporary circus, circus devices, skill, affordances.
Keywords: contemporary circus, circus devices, skill, affordances.