Abstract

Locus Solus is an international, location-driven and devised project (produced by Out of the Box Intermedia, 2009) which aims to form a dialogue of research into practice between architects, visual and sound artists, dancers, choreographers, actors, stage designers, video artists, researchers, writers and dramaturgs. Based on the proto-Surrealist novel “Locus Solus” (Solitary or Unique Place, 1914) by Raymond Roussel (1877-1933) in which a scientist and inventor named Martial Canterel, has invited a group of colleagues to visit the park of his country estate near Paris, which is called “Locus Solus,” the project formulates a framework for thinking about ‘ideal’ and ‘real’ space. The production seeks to present issues involving spatiality and mobility, thus it deals with theatrical space, in terms of its physical transformation, through the movement of both the spectators and of the performers. The dramaturgy draws on the analogy between text, image and sound, in order to present literary allusions and echoes, narrative episodes and descriptive scenes, ‘verbal found’ objects, shifting aesthetic styles and registers. The interconnections between these different disciplines elucidate different types of audience engagement with a “timeless?” visual art object and a temporal theatrical work. The paper focuses on these performative practices, from architecture to body art, so as to analyze the different methods used in theatre practice and contemporary curatorial practices in the visual arts.