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The aim of this thesis is to explore an heuristic analogy as proposed in its very title: how does a concept of the “uncanny in mimesis” and of the “theatre of death” give content to each other – historically and theoretically – as distinct from the one providing either a description of, or even a metaphor for, the other? Thus, while the title for this concept of theatre derives from an eponymous manifesto of Tadeusz Kantor’s, the thesis does not aim to explain what the concept might mean in this historically specific instance only. Rather, it aims to develop a comparative analysis, through the question of mimesis, allowing for different theatre artists to be related within what will be proposed as a “minor” tradition of modernist art theatre (that “of death”). This comparative enquiry – into theatre practices conceived of in terms of the relation between abstraction and empathy, in which the “model” for the actor is seen in mannequins, puppets, or effigies – is developed through such questions as the following: What difference does it make to the concept of “theatre” when thought of in terms “of death”? What thought of mimesis do the dead admit of? How has this been figured, historically, in aesthetics? How does an art of theatre participate in the anthropological history of relations between the living and the dead? In this history, how have actors been thought to represent the dead – not in the interpretation of fictional “characters” (from the dramatic canon), but in their very appearance, before an audience, as actors? How might (a minor history of) modernist theatre practice be considered in terms of an iconography of such appearances – as distinct from a question of actor training, still less as a question of written drama?

This dissertation interrogates how the Caracas-based collective El Techo de la Ballena (active 1961−69) vacillated between the sociopolitical concerns that provided the basis for its proposals and the wide array of mainstream tendencies that informed its anti-aesthetic stances. El Techo dialogued with a variety of global currents in a multifaceted practice that encroached upon the realms of the aesthetic, the political, and the literary. In spite of evident convergences with au courant tendencies in these spheres, a fundamental retrograde stance anchored the proposals of these radicalized writers, artists, poets, and art critics. As I argue, their compulsion to return to the past reflected an aversion towards a critical Cold War moment marred in Venezuela by several key factors: a far from peaceful transition to democracy during the government of Rómulo Betancourt, a rapid physical transformation fueled by increasing oil revenue, persistent underdevelopment, and a less than equitable distribution of wealth. In Part I, I establish the socioeconomic and cultural conditions upon which El Techo based its multidisciplinary interventions. Two chapters investigate the critical issue of the Venezuelan petro-state at midcentury: the unbalance between a rapid officially-sanctioned socioeconomic development and the slower agricultural temporalities that continued to determine the rhythms of vast sectors of the population. I contend that the collective responded to the problems unleashed by a national economy built on petroleum and the parallel development of a fad aesthetic, Informalism, which emerged from the cultural excesses of that unstable developmentalist model. I organize Part II around three case studies that closely examine El Techo’s deliberate inversion of an internationally aligned modernity that hinged on the need for constant evolution and progress in the visual arts. I maintain that the collective’s overarching interest in the retrograde was the chief value that held its work together during the critical 1961 to 1964 period when it questioned the weight of Informalism and in later years when it turned to an alternate political lineage in its proposals. / 1 / Maria C. Gaztambide

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My dissertation is concerned with two central issues: analysis of theory-practice gaps in aesthetic theories applied to avant-garde musics, and problems of visibility and respect in theorizing across cultures. In the first chapter, I examine a case study, John Coltrane's successive improvisations on "My Favorite Things," under two different theories in order to show how theories shape our view of the practices we are trying to explain. In the second chapter, I take up Coltrane's practices and their relations to theories once again but, in a reversal of the previous chapter's focus, I show how examining theories through practices can reveal these theory-practice gaps and problematic assumptions. I move, from there, to an analysis, informed by feminist standpoint epistemology, of the extent to which political values influence our theory choices and thus help construct our metaphysical views. Out of this discussion, my third chapter argues that attempts to universalize a culturally-situated notion of 'the musical work' (one drawn from Western classical music) do violence to works and artists situated in other cultural traditions. Thus I construct an alternative view of the musical work that I call 'contextualized nominalism' which has the merit of being sensitive to these issues of cultural situation. The fourth chapter explores connections between avant-garde jazz practices and oppositional politics which can be made visible when performances of works are accorded priority over composition. Here I construct a performative notion of community which, in addition to making the most sense of improvisational musical practices, can also be the ground of an 'ethos of improvisation' extendable into other social contexts. Finally I turn to the need for a pluralistic framework in aesthetic evaluation of polycultural artistic processes and products, through a critical examination of universal notions of aesthetic value. I argue, from this and all of the preceding chapters, that where we cross cultures, or mix them, in aesthetic evaluations, we must do so as respectful pluralists and within a pluralist framework.

Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam. / Rugtitel: Avant-garde culture. Met lit. opg., filmogr. - Met samenvatting in het Nederlands.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisors: Dr. Anita González, Florida State University, School of Theatre and Dr. Tricia Young, Florida State University, College of Visual Arts and Dance, Dept. of Dance. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 15, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 312 pages. Includes bibliographical references.