Tenth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

The intersection of the cinematic dispositif and the elusive spectator has been at the center of a rich debate since the late twentieth century. The cinematic spectator has gone through transformations and modifications, even shifting focus from ocular to haptic. The reference models comprise the work and theories by Jean-Louis Baudry, Laura Mulvey, Christian Metz, Vivian Sobchack, Gene Youngblood, and Laura U. Marks. Their contributions, moving from an ocular-centric epistemology of the late-twentieth century to an embodied, tactile, proprioceptive experience in the twenty-first century, have brought forth an ontology that provides deep consideration to the cinematic spectator. The following theoretical investigation focuses on the expansion of contemporary cinema and what constitutes a spectatorial experience in the twenty-first century. I argue for an act of metamorphosis in the form of contemporary cinema, namely live cinema, which engenders effective movements in the spectatorial experience. The performer and spectator in a live cinema performative setting are met with communicative exchanges entrenched in participation, improvisation, human agency, and communal relationships. Both parties enter an effectively composed journey built on proprioception, accidental performative occurrences, visceral desires, and ephemeral behavior. These developments in a live cinema framework are witness to a shift towards immediacy, spontaneity, immersion, and engagement found in an intuitive encounter with “liveness;” a practice which becomes visible in a real-time fractal performance space.