Performing Utopias

Performing Utopias: The Activation of Space and the Spatialisation of Man in Oskar Schlemmer's Theatre

MA dissertation (distinction), Courtauld Institute of Art, 2016, supervised by Dr Robin Schuldenfrei.

The dissertation examines how Oskar Schlemmer used theatrical dance to give space its own agency and to remake the human figure through costume. The first chapter traces his movement from painting and relief to the Bauhaus stage, arguing that in the Bauhaus Dances he activated space into a living character through geometry, movement and the choreographed handling of props. The second turns to The Triadic Ballet, where sculptural costumes dictate the dancer's movements and reorganise the body into "art figures" that mediate between man and his surroundings. Against readings that reduce the ballet to machine and prosthesis motifs, it argues that Schlemmer's aim was restorative: an ideal figure produced through the reciprocal exchange between body and space. The analysis draws on Schlemmer's diaries, letters and directorial notes, and on the film compilation Bühne und Tanz.

To read the essay in its enterity, please contact Stéphanie.