(P)reenactment

Introduction: Affective Witnessing as Theory and Practice

“…Witnessing the (same but different) events of 21 May 2016 can shape, change and transform affective relations not only in the moment of witnessing, but also in the future: '[t]he aesthetic and political expressivity of bodily figurations in (p)reenacments draws on the ambiguity of their points of reference, as these figurations oscillate between different layers of time, subjectivities, and affective arrangements, making it impossible to contextualize their actions definitively'. 44 It is this potential that makes affective witnessing inherently political. Responsibility to the events becomes responsibility for the ongoing event of marginalisation, racism and hate.…”

La simulación como performance afectiva en los orígenes del feminismo

“…Se trata de una suerte de flashforward que empasta afectivamente presente y futuro a través del desafío que esos cuerpos representan para la temporalidad lineal. Es más, tal como ha sido señalado, este tipo de intervención expresa un agenciamiento radical de quien lo produce (Adam CZIRAK et al, 2019); pocas cosas pueden agenciar más que señalar y ejecutar como real aquello que se considera imposible.…”

The Politics of Affective Societies

“…The (culturally determined) dynamics of indignation or outrage as a political phenomenon can be observed in several artistic tribunals the Swiss director and theatre producer Milo Rau has put into practice during the last years. Especially his Moscow Trials (from 2013) and his Congo Tribunal (from 2015) may be interpreted as (p)reenactments (Czirak et al 2019) of justice. 12 These tribunals are set up in circumstances deemed to deny justice to those who are given a voice during the performances, e.g.…”

“…Today, many performances no longer only deal with the revision or replication of a historic event but orient themselves towards an imagined future and set out to experiment with fictitious time(s) and space(s), thus opening up perspectives of 'preenactment'. In adopting the specific notation of (p)reenactment, Czirak et al (2019) "emphasize the fundamental interconnectedness and interdependence of pro-and retrospection as well as the instability of each temporal perspective".…”

“…Both tribunals comprise features of reenactment as well as preenactment (for the terminology, see Roselt/Otto, 2012, andCzirak et al, 2019): Reenactment seems an appropriate term for the investigation and research taking place before and during the tribunal -the research necessary to make clear what is at stake in the performance and the results of the hearings with extensive testimonies by a large number of experts and witnesses involved. For the economy of outrage in place here, the telling of the fates in question is of utmost importance: Outrage results from the stories which come to the fore in the trials and are depicted by witnesses, who have themselves been victims or offenders in the events reenacted.…”