Andreas methods 05-12-18

In the chapter „An Arena in Which to Reenact“ Sven Lütticken is specifying, that performative art tries to fight repetition with repetition, ultimately recharging the past by duplicating the events. The writer is expressing that history is coming from authors, who are also actors and spectators at the same time. Taking the 1960s as an example, he is saying that people should submit themselves as commodities rather than consuming commodities passively. The labor crowd shall step out of being interchangeable and rather become, or perform – as Lütticken is calling it – as a unique commodity-person. Later on he is telling, that representation is happening in every society „(…) with people presenting themselves in ways that seem favorable and suited themselves (…)“. He is depicting how Festzüge turned into the more narrative form of pageants, where they tried to break out from the limitations of the stage and is also showing the downside of reenactments: He states, that they can also be a denial than a real engagement with history and underlines this with the example of the Jonestown Re-enactment. The author compares it to the nineteenth-century culture, „in which the French Revolution had revived, relived, reenacted ancient Rome.“ Referring to the „Storming of the Winter Palace“, Lütticken is pointing out that reenactments can also be over-dramatised and proves this with research done by Slavoj Žižek. Instead of being played by a small group of Bolsheviks, it became a participatory mass theater. Furthermore Lütticken is stating that in Contemporary Art reenactment has the freedom to be an extremely literal repetition, or on the other hand, very free in variation. Finally he is describing, that historical reenactment may help people escaping daily life, but may also be an archaic challenge to the now. Ultimately he is describing, that everything is open to appropriation and mainstream historical reenactment may provide impulses eventually creating new spaces for possible, extraordinary work.

The Culture of the Copy: Striking Likenesses, Unreasonable Facsimiles By Hillel Schwartz (MIT/Zone books)

In the Chapter „Once More, With Feeling“ Hillel Schwartz is talking about reenactments and replications. Schwartz begins with game Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books. by H.G. Wells and compares its strategic values to the tactics of chess. The author goes on with depicting the importance of drill in-between strategy and tactics on parade grounds and killing grounds. Maurice, Prince of Orange, captain-general of Holland introduced drill during the 1950s to gain flexibility and speed, ultimately gaining the decisive advantage in battles. He states that the repetition of exercising with tabletop wargames would be the drill for officers. Over decades this has played an important role at war, but in another form: the form of a green table. Either Napoleon or even German coastal commanders on D-Day. „The kriegspiel had to consist of attacks whose repetition led to unintended results.“ Further on the author is writing about computer programs supporting war games or even instigating nuclear alerts, like the NORAD war game in 1979. He also brings up Peter Youngs idea, that war games can also be a mode of denial, saying „One has yet to see an enjoyable evening’s play based on the destruction of Nagasaki“. Schwartz is then talking about museums opening to the pageantry and public education around 1900. He is stating that history must outlive the past and puts up the famous epigram „Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it“ by the philosopher George Santayana. The writer states, that the illusion of reversibility can also be a reason for reenactments, like the Battle of Bull Run, in which the North and South joined in the end to sing „God Bless America“ in the end. Or American veterans who return to Vietnam to „find peace“ of their trauma. He sums it up perfectly in this sentence: „What’s done, if it can’t be undone, can be redone, once more, with feeling.“