Theater of operations
A l’origine… le théâtre des opérations, c’est le champ de bataille.
Originally, the theater of operations is the battlefield.
1. Theater of operations considers the city as a territory of conflicts where theatricality is a central element of the confrontation / cohabitation between populations, and also with the institutional logics which are shaping the urban. It is a way to work with the tensions generated by urban space, and interrogate the notion of public space (question of the appearance) in the context of globalisation.
1. Théâtre des opérations considère la ville comme un territoire de conflits où la théâtralité est un élément central de la confrontation / cohabitation entre les populations, ainsi qu’avec les logiques institutionnelles qui fabriquent l’urbain. C’est une manière de travailler avec les tensions que génère l’espace urbain et d’interroger la notion d’espace public.
2. Alain Badiou, in A Theatre of operations, a discussion between Alain Badiou et Elie During. In A theater without theater, catalogue of the MACBA (Barcelone) exhibition, 2007.
Badiou distingue un théâtre de représentation auquel succède aujourd’hui, un théâtre d’opérations. « In more general terms, it’s a question of whether the display of the theater idea ceded it’s place to the construction of that idea, such that the codes of that construction are themselves visible or shown ? In my opinion the question of the place of ritual, of improvisation, of chance, ant that of a spatial relation with is either orientated or not between what is shown and the audience, all of this comes down to discussing – in reference to the most recent experimentation – the relationships between the visible and the invisible in theatrical (or non theatrical- action. Here I call « invisible » the instructions or statements which you rightly identify as being « between » the idea and the act. For a long time these instructions were half hidden – because they were only present during the rehearsals – or half visible – inasmuch as the Brechtian director wanted to reveal or explain them in the program. In order to complete the passage from a theater of display to a theater of construction (or process) there must definitely be a revision of the nature and place of instructions.