GEOPOETICS A mindfulness (sati)

212 Pages·2017·4.24 MB·English

by  Anna Tz

GEOPOETICS

A mindfulness (sati) site-specific performance practice

Submitted by
Anna Tzakou

to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Performance Practice

November 2016

This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is
copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be
published without proper acknowledgement.

I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has
been identified and that no material has previously been submitted
and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University.

Signature: …………………………………………………………..

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Abstract

In autumn of 2010 the phenomenon of ‘Greek crisis’ was aggressively developed
to a new experience of Greece. As a theatre practitioner from Athens, the specific
historical time pushed me to question big-scale narratives of identity, home and
belonging-ness. I relocated my training outdoors. My aim was to create a site-
specific performance process that investigates place as a psychophysical
experience and the ways through which it integrates with the cultural practices
embedded in situ.

The thesis builds around a Geographical/Buddhist framework where a cultural
landscape epistemology outlined by Mitch Rose and John Wylie (2006) is realised
through the practice of samatha vipashyana. The accounts of Rose and Wylie
organise the examination of space as a body-landscape interrelationship. The
Buddhist notion of mindfulness (sati) structures the investigation of the
experience in space through theatre and dance disciplines in situ. The Buddhist
concept of selflessness (anatta) permeates the performance practice in situ as a
discipline of presence.

Designated as Geopoetics, the practice of thesis applies meditation practices of
breathing and walking to explore site through movement, feeling and activity. It
further extends such a process via the disciplines of Somatics, Grotowski-based
actor training and Dilley’s ‘dance.art.lab’. It employs the notions of ‘story’ from the
Six Viewpoints system and ‘living myth’ of Anna Halprin to formulate a devising
process of site-specific performance as an enactment of interrelationship
between subject(s) and space.

Geopoetics creates experiential containers within which the participant/ watcher
is enabled to contemplate and re-examine her political, perceptual and emotional
present. Based on its methodology of mindfulness (sati) notions of ‘identity’,
‘home’ and ‘sense of belonging’ are seen as individual or collective modes of
attachment which altogether co-formulate the event of landscape.

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The practice of Geopoetics suggests an inquiry of place through the body for site-
specific devisers and performers. It also relates to the discipline of architects,
geographers and planners as a practice which investigates space’s contextual
paradoxes and dynamics through the body.

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List of Contents

Title Page ........................................................................................................... 1

Abstract .............................................................................................................. 3

List of Contents....................................................................................................5

List of Illustrations and DVDs ............................................................................. 6

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ 8

Preface ..............................................................................................................11

Introduction ....................................................................................................... 17

Part I: A Mindfulness (sati) Performance Practice of Landscape ...................... 31

Chapter 1: The Geographical-Buddhist premise ........................................... 32
Chapter 2: Geopoetics; a mindfulness (sati) performance practice of
landscape ...................................................................................................... 57

Part II: Embodying and Performing Landscapes .............................................. 84

Chapter 3: The Bridge Project ....................................................................... 86
Chapter 4: The Geopoetics Project ............................................................. 123
Chapter 5: Performance Topophilia ............................................................. 155
Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 188
Bibliography .................................................................................................... 200

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List of Illustrations and DVDs
Page

Image 1: Poster of the Bridge Project by Marianna Bacoula 88
Image 2: Map of Aigina island 90
Image 3: Photo of Oikia Karapanou by Artemis Anastasiadou 91
Image 4: Photo of walking practice by Artemis Anastasiadou 99
Image 5: Photo of rolling practice by Artemis Anastasiadou 99
Image 6: Drawn Audience Feedback (front) 112
Image 7: Drawn Audience Feedback (back) 113
Image 8: Poster of the Geopoetics Project by Marianna Bacoula 125
Image 9: Map of Nisyros island 127
Image 10: Photo of the caldera of Nisyros by Elli Vassalou 128
Image 11: Photo of the spiladi in the project by Elli Vassalou 130
Image 12: Poster of Performance Topophilia by Marianna Bacoula 159
Image 13: Heridanos from Monastiraki square by Nikos Kazeros 163
Image 14: Heridanos from Monastiraki station by Nikos Kazeros 163
Image 15: Map of the city and the route of Topophia by Marianna Bacoula 164
Image 16: Map of Heridanos in the ancient city and the performance route
by Marianna Bacoula 165

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DVDs
This thesis is accompanied by audio-visual material. The DVDs are attached at
the back of this corpus and are organised as follows:

For Chapter 3
Title: A. The Bridge Project

For Chapter 4
Title: B. The Geopoetics Project

For Chapter 5
Title: C. Performance Topophilia

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Acknowledgements

I would like to offer my appreciation to all those who have made this thesis
possible.

Thanks to my colleagues among the staff and students at the Drama Department
of the University of Exeter who have supported me with their interest and
expertise. Special mention to Jane Milling and Cathy Turner. Many thanks to all
my PhD fellows. Special thanks to Robin Riegels and Sinibaldo de Rosa.

Appreciation to the members of the site-specific performance community in
Devon, UK: Phil Smith, Simon Persighetti and Helen Poynor. And to the wider
community of performance practice in the States, the UK and the rest of Europe.
Special thanks to Erica Fae and Maria Kapsali.

I would like to thank my supervisors Sarah Goldingay and Jerri Daboo for their
valuable feedback, support and rigour.

Thank you to the Onassis Foundation scholarship for funding this research.

Gratitude to Cristina Chorafa and Oikia Karapanou, the village Emporios in
Nissyros, Professor of Geography in University of the Aegean Theoni Terkenli,
architects Nikos Kazeros and Giwrgis Noukakis and the Shambhala centres in
Athens and London.

A big thank you to the participants of the Bridge Project, the Geopoetics
Project and Performance Topophilia for their trust, support and enthusiastic
involvement.
Thanks to my collaborators Alexis Ioannou and Marios Chatziprokopiou for
believing the work and enriching it with more possibilities.

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Thank you to my wonderful filmmakers Artemis Anastasiadou, Michalis
Asthenidis and Elli Vassalou for finding a way even when there was none to be
taken.

Special thank you to my film editor Artemis Anastadiadou and my graphic
designer Marianna Bacoula for always being there for me, supporting me with
their skills and the generosity of their spirit.

I would like also to thank my family and friends for making me feel ‘home’ no
matter how far.

A deep bow to my teachers who have been of major influence in my work and in
my life: Barbara Dilley, Steve Wangh and Wendell Beavers.

This work is dedicated to the Dralas of the world.

[bow in: feel-hold-give]

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To me this seems beyond belief…if you take the time and look closely
all nature has its own beauty…when that natural beauty is there I just
loose myself in it…and then as if it is in a dream the scene just paints
itself for me…yes I consume this natural setting…I devour it completely
and wholly…and when I am through…the picture appears before me…
but it is so difficult to hold it inside…
(Vincent Van Gogh in Akira Kurosawa, Dreams)

This was not a city. It was something like a firm proof of geometric
theorem, like a dogmatic conception of metaphysical contemplation
applied onto a dry rock which drew grace and beauty from the lie of a
magical light. The light! The great light was radiating all around, going
back to its transmitter, the sun, waving over the sunny roofs of the
houses, the slopes of the rocks, the foams of the wavy sea. And
disappearing to the open waters…
(M. Karagatsis, The Great Chimaira)

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