Out of (the Assembly) Line: Mo(ve)ments of Uselessness Beyond the Human Scale

Authors

  • Veronika Darian

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i28.504

Keywords:

Assembly line, Fordism, Modern Times, The Way Things Go, Sergei Tret’iakov, Biography of the Object, gesture, out of line

Abstract

Since modernity the relationship between man and things has become precarious. At that time a far-reaching invention turned into a symbol and memorial of modern usage requirements and most efficient production processes: the assembly line. The movements to be performed within the strictly specified processes served only one purpose: the final product. As a consequence, work processes were divided up in the rhythm of the machines, sequences of actions were reduced, and alienation (Entfremdung) was promoted – pushing not only Charlie Chaplin’s tramp into the gear wheels of Modern Times (1936). Under these conditions the relationship between man and thing(s) was renegotiated: On the one hand the working class found itself objectified in a rushing hamster wheel, on the other hand the things in literature and arts regained obstinacy. During those times various authors started questioning the human scale as an omnipresent measure and value of life. Furthermore, things were equipped with biographies of their own, for example by the Russian futurist author Sergei Tret’iakov and his “Biography of the Object”, which featured the intrinsic value of the non-human, non-heroic towards traditional protagonists. Even today, artists succeed in their way to explore various assemblies of peoples and things, such as the artist duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss in their mixed media experiment The Way Things Go (1987). The article focuses on such resistant gestures of/towards things, that lack any obvious benefit and purposefulness, but, on the contrary, reveal their uselessness by literally falling ‘out of line’.

 

Article received: December 12, 2021; Article accepted: February 1, 2022; Published online: April 15, 2022; Original scholarly article

Author Biography

Veronika Darian

Veronika Darian
Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig
Germany

Veronika Darian (1972) is Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at Leipzig University with focus on transmediality and transculturality. She received her PhD in 2004 with a dissertation on the relationship between theatre, language, image, and power (Theater der Bildbeschreibung. Sprache, Macht und Bild in Zeiten der Souveränität, Munich, 2011). Her major research interests include questions of gesture and gestural research (Gestische Forschung. Praktiken und Perspektiven, co-ed., Berlin, 2020; Verhaltene Beredsamkeit? – Politik, Pathos und Philosophie der Geste, ed., Frankfurt am Main, 2009), artistic practices of iteration (Die Praxis der/des Echo. Zum Theater des Widerhalls, co-ed., Frankfurt am Main, 2015), and the relationship between theatre, arts, and historiography (Mind the Map! – History Is Not Given, co-ed., Frankfurt am Main, 2006). Her further research and teaching focuses on theatre in transforming societies, theatrical research on foreignness/strangeness, theatre and age(ing), biography and narration in theatre, dance, and performance, things in theatre, and ‘scenes of obstinacy’.

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i27.504

On cover: Provisonal Salta Ensemble, Dubravka Đurić i Miško Šuvaković: Eco-cut, foto-colague, 1989–2022.

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Published

15.04.2022

How to Cite

Darian, V. (2022). Out of (the Assembly) Line: Mo(ve)ments of Uselessness Beyond the Human Scale. AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, (27), 141–148. https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i28.504

Issue

No. 27 (2022): Issue No. 27, April 2022 – Main Topic: TRANS-TACTICAL IMPACTS: The transdisciplinary, transcultural, transnational, translinguistic, transmedia, and transindividual in contemporary humanities, politics, artistic and media practices

Section

PANEL PRESENTATION Theatre Beyond the Anthropo(s)cene: About Spaces, Things and Views from Afar, prepared by Micha Braun

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