Protagorians among us: Rebellious performances of word and action at occupy
Protagorians among us: Rebellious performances of word and action at occupy
Protagoras, Plato recounted, taught how to harness word and action and use them to make an effective contribution to the affairs of the City. Far beyond public speaking, this was an indictment to use performance and philosophy in tandem to insinuate public demands. On the 9th of October 2011, Slavoj Zizek joined fellow Protagorians at Occupy Wall Street in solidarity. He delivered a speech encouraging those assembled to keep going and was followed, on the 23rd of October, by Judith Butler who did the same. Both of these visiting philosophers were rather crudely hoisted onto a raised platform in front of protesters who repeated their words in unison as a means of amplification and in order to pass their messages to all present. A little over a month later an online journal – Theory & Event – published a supplement focusing on just this combination of contributions.
In this paper I would like to consider The Occupy Movement’s rebellious representations of Protagoras’ indictment. Specifically, I would like to consider the geographies of occupied place and space and what power and knowledge is delivered and viewed in such formations. Spectatorship and the sharing-as-witness of politicized performance ‘happenings’ seems to indicate a new performance form and yet, as early as the late Modern period (1910 – 1915) there are examples of art ‘happenings’ offering similar anti-authoritarian contribution. So, is this theatricality new, or did this transnational performance collective occupy, not just land, but performance forms as well?
Protagoras, Political Performance, Display, Protest Movements, Philosophy, Theatre
Millette, Holly-Gale
909906ff-426b-47ab-a71a-5788ea36c213
Millette, Holly-Gale
909906ff-426b-47ab-a71a-5788ea36c213
Millette, Holly-Gale
(2013)
Protagorians among us: Rebellious performances of word and action at occupy.
The Viewing of Politics and the Politics of Viewing: : Theatre Challenges in the Age of Globalized Communities, Aristotle University , Thessoloniki, Greece.
18 - 21 Apr 2013.
(Submitted)
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Abstract
Protagoras, Plato recounted, taught how to harness word and action and use them to make an effective contribution to the affairs of the City. Far beyond public speaking, this was an indictment to use performance and philosophy in tandem to insinuate public demands. On the 9th of October 2011, Slavoj Zizek joined fellow Protagorians at Occupy Wall Street in solidarity. He delivered a speech encouraging those assembled to keep going and was followed, on the 23rd of October, by Judith Butler who did the same. Both of these visiting philosophers were rather crudely hoisted onto a raised platform in front of protesters who repeated their words in unison as a means of amplification and in order to pass their messages to all present. A little over a month later an online journal – Theory & Event – published a supplement focusing on just this combination of contributions.
In this paper I would like to consider The Occupy Movement’s rebellious representations of Protagoras’ indictment. Specifically, I would like to consider the geographies of occupied place and space and what power and knowledge is delivered and viewed in such formations. Spectatorship and the sharing-as-witness of politicized performance ‘happenings’ seems to indicate a new performance form and yet, as early as the late Modern period (1910 – 1915) there are examples of art ‘happenings’ offering similar anti-authoritarian contribution. So, is this theatricality new, or did this transnational performance collective occupy, not just land, but performance forms as well?
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Submitted date: 21 April 2013
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The Viewing of Politics and the Politics of Viewing: : Theatre Challenges in the Age of Globalized Communities, Aristotle University , Thessoloniki, Greece, 2013-04-18 - 2013-04-21
Keywords:
Protagoras, Political Performance, Display, Protest Movements, Philosophy, Theatre
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Local EPrints ID: 468002
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468002
PURE UUID: de3e4ae4-dde7-4c52-9971-c993786f0d64
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Date deposited: 27 Jul 2022 17:04
Last modified: 28 Jul 2022 01:46
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