Life, Once More: Forms of reenactment in contemporary art by Sven Lutticken, Witte de With, Rotterdam, 2005

Edited Version from 3. December 2018

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 (…)“. (Lütticken, 2005)

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.“ (Lütticken, 2005)

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.

Unedited text from 7. November 2018

In the introduction the author is writing about reenactments and how they represent „original performance“. He is stating, that reenactments are being represented in the form of photos and videos. Additionally the author is specifying, that performative art tries to fight repetition with repetition, ultimately recharging the past by duplicating the events.

In the chapter „An Arena in Which to Reenact“ Sven Lütticken is expressing that history is coming from authors, who are also actors and spectators at the same time and underlines this with a quote by Harold Rosenberg. 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 (…)“. The author is claiming that nowadays media is filled with reality TV, showing unoriginal, repetitive nature of performance. The public should rather appear authentic with unique feelings and actions. Lütticken is saying that „citation has to operate within narrow limits, without much variation“, therefore staying true to ones self and to have an network value with others. He is stating, that reenactment of ones self and of everyone as well is becoming a crucial performative strategy.

Finally Lütticken 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.

Bibliography

Lütticken, S., 2005. Life, once more. Witte De With, Rotterdam., pp. 17, 43