ArteActa 2020, 4:7-26 | DOI: 10.62804/aa.2020.001

Authenticity, Copying and the Critical Gaze. The Crisis of Representation

Kent Sjöström

In contemporary Western theatre and actor's training there is a tension between different traditions in the actor's work, concerning the bodily practices that are related to representation, construction of identities, authenticity and self-expression. One aspect of the actor's methodical tradition - the openness to suffering and sacrificing oneself in the name of the arts - will be displayed and scrutinised through examples from ancient theatre, European avant-garde and the Method acting tradition. I will argue that this aspect is aimed at exposing the artist as a unique original, and in this way also serves the commodification of the artist's self-presentation. In contrast to the abovementioned moods of representation, 20th century artists and philosophers like Bertolt Brecht and Walter Benjamin practically and theoretically challenge concepts such as originality, authenticity and artists' self-representation. They instead investigate the creative and political potential in phenomena like quoting and copying, and above all a playful and critical role-taking process, not based in self-expression. I will finally argue that Brecht's stance is in accordance with a non-essentialist view of humans and that his views are in line with certain tendencies in the post-dramatic tradition.

Keywords: acting, acting methods, actor's training, Bertolt Brecht, copying, identity politics, original, representation, Walter Benjamin

Published: December 15, 2020  Show citation

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Sjöström, K. (2020). Authenticity, Copying and the Critical Gaze. The Crisis of Representation. ArteActa, 3(4), 7-26. doi: 10.62804/aa.2020.001
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