He had to have a peaceful death.
«I am not going to cry,» I said.
He will have peace and rest without me standing over him and covering him with my tears. After all, it is not about my tears.
11th of May 2016 Daniel died.
Mimesis in crisis – the storyteller in representation and presentation – research from the inside
According to “det store norske leksikon», podcasts are:
edited audio programs distributed on the Internet. Podcasting is characterized by the listener, through subscription services, downloading the programs to the smartphone, tablet or the like to listen to them when appropriate. Podcasting technology also includes video file distribution, but podcasts are used almost exclusively for audio. (Fjellro, 2019)
The meaning of the word comes from:
«English podcasting. The word is composed by pod (which originated from Apple’s music player iPod, where pod means portable on demand), and broadcast. (Fjellro, 2019) »
What challenges, concerns, and tools require the presence of mimesis when transporting oral storytelling to digital platforms?
This is an artistic research in which the process from planning to implementation is developed and explored through a method-developing practice aimed at a digital medium. Ten performances will be planned and implemented, organized and disseminated through Podcast where the storyteller’s aesthetic tools are re-articulated and tested through a medium that does not take place here and now, and which does not become a “radio theater” or a «talk podcast».
The concept is also based on «paper performance» and «performance lecture», a genre that dates back to the 1960s with roots in performing and conceptual art. The hybrid form extends beyond the arts and academia where you convey on multiple levels by juxtaposing and contrasting the material “to explore the relationship between consensus and facts. Today, the form has often been given the slang word “anti – TED talk”.
In this project there will be traditional and autobiographical stories in combination with theory. The two main theory work will be Frances Yates – Ars Memoria and Paul Ricoeur – On time and narrative – Volume 1.
The analysis tool is an overview of aesthetic instruments, among other things shaped by Lwin (Lwin S. M., 2020). Initially, this is divided into three main categories: the verbal, the vocal, and the gesture, these again being divided into subcategories – where there is a distinction between diegesis and mimesis.
Each performance has a length of approx. twenty to thirty minutes and a specific theme that is elucidated through traditional material, theory, autobiographical material and contemporary issues. Aesthetic instruments such as rhythm, alliteration, repetition (and other frequencies), speed, perspective and the like, as well as various forms of communicative functions like comments and direct inquiries will be tried out. It will also be tested how the physical gesture can be replaced by sounds and words. The dramaturgical composition will vary depending on the material, but some of the premises are violations towards the linear structure to create a transport between different spaces and landscapes (such as the storytelling landscape and the space in which you actually are) and the concept of Rasa / Bhava.
When each performance is complete, ten dedicated listeners will listen through and provide feedback in the form of a questionnaire in which listeners respond anonymously. This indicates how the project can be further developed. Two versions of each performance are created – one in English and one in Norwegian.
Each performance is contextualized through a blog post describing methods and tools, as well as outlining of the basic traditional material (can be found here: https://www.fortellerkunstner.no).
The documentation will consist of field diary, pictures and screenshot. The number of listeners is logged and comments are anonymized and transcribed. This forms the data material for the textual reflection / article afterwards, in addition to a teaching practice.
In this project I cooperate with British dramaturg and researcher Paula Crutchlow
Sources:
Carmelo, L. C. (2016). Narração oral: uma arte performativa (Unpublished Phd Dissertation). Faro: Universidade do Algarve.
Carmelo, L. C., Dahlsveen, M., Gerard, V., Mørch, R. A., & Patrix, A. (2018). Survey: Storytelling in Europe Today. Alden Biesen: Federation for European Storytelling.
Fjellro, R. (2019, Mars 14). Podkast. Retrieved from Store Norske Leksikon: https://snl.no/podkast
Gumbrecht, H. U. (2004). Production of presence What meaning cannot convey. California: Standford University Press.
Kleinberg, E. (2013). Presence in Absentia . In R. Ghosh, & E. Kleinberg, Presence : Philosophy, History, and Cultural Theory for the Twenty-First Century. Cornell University Press .
Lwin, S. M. (2010). Capturing the dynamics of narrative development in an oral storytelling performance A multimodal perspective. A multimodal perspective, « Language and Literature », 19. 4, pp. 357-377.
Lwin, S. M. (2020). A multimoal perspective on applied storyelling performances Narrativity in Context. London og New York: Routledge.
Merleau – Ponty, M. (1968). The Visible and the Invisible FOLLOWED BY WORKING NOTES. N o r t h w e s t e r n U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s.
Schechner, R. (1981). Performers and spectators transported and transformed. Kenyon Review; Fall81, Vol. 3 Issue 4.
Sobol, J. (1999). The storytellers’ Journey: an American Revivial. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.