Lecture: Video as Theater. On the Theatrality of Medial Self-Staging

26.11.2013

Lecture by Juliane Kremberg (Theater Researcher) in conjunction with the “My Theme” lecture series

The etymology of the word “video” from the Latin word for “I see” alone indicates that the medium can be considered both a technology as well as an aesthetic process, that is as perception itself. But what happens when the “I” appears in the images? The self and the image then engage in dialogue. In contrast, the word “theater” stems from an ancient Greek word for a place or site of seeing. What exactly happens when the place where something is to be seen merges with the subject who sees? The initial result is a double performance; the subject dances on the stage of the image. Many contemporary video works place the focus on the performance of identity. However, according to the thesis of Kremberg’s lecture, when also the object viewed, the image itself, is constitutively assumed to be a performance, then video, like theater, functions as a dual mode of presentation. Also like theater, video has the particular capacity of consistently revealing our relationship to identity as an ever-questionable category of truth.

*Juliane Kremberg* (born 1986) studied Applied Theater Studies in Gießen as well as contemporary dance, video, and photography in Istanbul. She is currently an artistic and research assistant at the Institute for Theater, Film, and Media Studies at the University of Frankfurt. Drawing on her thesis “Video in Performance / Video als Performance – Virtuelle und Reale Bilderpräsenz in Zeitgenössischen Performances” (2012) and her professional experience as a director, filmmaker, and video designer, Kremberg is presenting the lecture “Video as Theater – On Theatrality in Medial Self-Staging,” in which she has drawn parallels between video and theater on the basis of individual works in the exhibition „Per Speculum Me Video“.

*My Theme* provides an opportunity for emerging scholars from Frankfurt and surrounding areas to present focal points of their research and interests to a broad publish in conjunction with the public programs of the Frankfurter Kunstverein. Emphasis is not placed on presenting a classical academic lecture, but instead the talk is intended to offer exciting insights into contemporary research.