CFP: The Engagement of the Spectator

[Susanne Shawyer]

CFP: International Symposium: *The Engagement of the Spectator *(May 2014)

Please distribute widely.

(English CFP version below. Attached CFP is in both French and English.)


CALL FOR PAPERS

International Symposium:* The Engagement of the Spectator*

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières,  May 22-24, 2014



Debates on the activity of the spectator have proliferated since Anne
Ubersfeld’s  *L’école du spectateur* (1996), whether they tend towards a
historicization of spectator practices, aim to classify the aesthetics in
which the spectator is immersed, or attempt to trace his* contours,
highlight his relation with a given performance or describe his activity
(political, aesthetic, physical, psychological, cognitive, etc.) before,
during and after the presentation. To cite a few examples, Catherine Bouko
(2008) speaks about the ″post-dramatic spectator″ and in so doing
revitalizes the approach to the semiology of audience reception. Josephine
Machon explores immersive practices as a place in order to study the
relation between human beings and their environment. Madeleine Mervant-Roux
(1998 and 2006), for her part, demonstrates the importance of frontality in
Italian-style performance halls and seeks to enhance the role of
watchman-dreamer played by the individual who attends a play.  Additionally
Florence March (2010) discusses the ″theatrical relation” based on concrete
spectator experiences. We can also consider Olivier Neveux’s *Politiques du
spectateur* (2013), the reinvention of the sociology of the spectator by
Ethis, Fabiani and Malinas (2008), thanks to the *Festival d’Avignon,* and
finally, the study of the spectator’s presence in dramaturgy by Thomas
Hunkeler (2002 and 2008).

These debates have given way to a new lexicon for discussing audience
reception in the theatre. Yves Thoret has proposed the French *spectature*for
″the effect the performance produces on the public” (1993:11). On the other
hand, Dennis Kennedy, who argues that ″a spectator is a corporeal presence
but a slippery concept″ (2009:3), adopts the noun ″spectation″, while Bruce
McConachie risks the neologism *spectating* when seeking to explain the
role of attention, empathy, emotion and culture in theatrical reception.
Likewise, his work, *Engaging Audiences* (2012), encourages us to conceive
of spectator practices in terms of engagement. For the author, the notion
supposes a two-way relationship between creators and spectators engaged in
a ″performative communication.″ Engagement, furthermore, allows us to
overcome the perpetual opposition between the spectator’s passivity or
activity and to move beyond his mere corporeal presence. In addition,
although it does not sidestep the issue of political emancipation discussed
by Jacques Rancière (2008), it is far from limited by it. This metaphor
encourages us to define the nature of this engagement along with the mental
processes involved, the processes the creators call on to obtain it and  the
type of aesthetic and cultural experience it is suited to. Additionally,  it
calls for grounding the debate in theories, modelizations, concepts and
concrete tools that allow it to be managed. Toward this end, we will
explore both the particular relations that develop in certain performances
and the theoretical foundations for approaching the multiple practices
where the public’s engagement in the performing arts is demonstrated.

Our focus is on three main areas.  (1) The first invites researchers to
consider what *disciplines* and *interdisciplinary approaches* tell us
today about spectator practices. Which phenomena are clarified and which go
unmentioned? What importance is accorded to notions such as attention,
empathy, identification, emotion and interaction? Is it possible to forge a
poetics of spectatorship from a particular era? In short, what dimensions
of the theatre-public relationship can these approaches highlight? (2) The
second area concerns *the spectator’s proposed* *relational context*. In
other words, what environment and what type of experience await him?  How
is he prepared, guided, oriented regarding the reception of the
presentation intended for him?  In what ways and using what processes? (3)
The third area focuses on *the public’s degree of willing participation* in
the experience. How is it persuaded to engage in the performance and on  what
basis? In what ways is it addressed? Is dissension possible? How much
participation is the public ready to accept?  Is it even willing to take on
the role of a character? How much room for manoeuvre does it enjoy in
certain aesthetics, and how can these practices be distinguished?

Proposals of 300 words maximum, in French or in English, and accompanied by
a brief biographical note must be sent before September 30, 2013 to Hervé
Guay, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (Herve.Guay at UQTR.CA) and
Catherine Bouko, Université Libre de Bruxelles (cbouko at ulb.ac.be). Notices
of acceptance will be sent out by December 15, 2013 at the latest.  Length
of time for presentations is twenty minutes. Please note that two renowned
festivals, the *Carrefour international de théâtre de Québec* and the *Festival
TransAmériques de Montréal*, will be taking place at the same time close by.




*The use of the masculine pronoun in this text is gender-neutral.
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