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1	Between Liminality and Transgression: Experimental Voice in Avant-Garde Performance Johnston, Emma Anne January 2014 (has links) This thesis explores the notion of ‘experimental voice’ in avant-garde performance, in the way it transgresses conventional forms of vocal expression as a means of both extending and enhancing the expressive capabilities of the voice, and reframing the social and political contexts in which these voices are heard. I examine these avant-garde voices in relation to three different liminal contexts in which the voice plays a central role: in ritual vocal expressions, such as Greek lament and Māori karanga, where the voice forms a bridge between the living and the dead; in electroacoustic music and film, where the voice is dissociated from its source body and can be heard to resound somewhere between human and machine; and from a psychoanalytic perspective, where the voice may bring to consciousness the repressed fears and desires of the unconscious. The liminal phase of ritual performance is a time of inherent possibility, where the usual social structures are inverted or subverted, but the liminal is ultimately temporary and conservative. Victor Turner suggests the concept of the ‘liminoid’ as a more transgressive alternative to the liminal, allowing for permanent and lasting social change. It may be in the liminoid realm of avant-garde performance that voices can be reimagined inside the frame of performance, as a means of exploring new forms of expression in life. This thesis comes out of my own experience as a performer and is informed both by theoretical discourse and practical experimentation in the theatre. Exploring the voice as a liminal, transgressive force requires analysis from an experiential perspective. Theatre Performance Avant-garde Experimental voice Liminality Liminoid Ritual Psychoanalysis Cyborg Electroacoustic Acousmatic Uncanny Greek lament Lullaby hereafter Artaud Alfred Wolfsohn Diamanda Galas Patty Waters Cathy Berberian Luciano Berio Visage Jenseits Werner Fritsch Peter Falkenberg Free Theatre Christchurch Bjork Laurie Anderson

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Between Liminality and Transgression: Experimental Voice in Avant-Garde Performance