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TO SING OF GILGAMESH: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MYTHIC STRUCTURE FOR CREATIVE PRACTICE. By Ruth Barker Submitted in Accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Newcastle University School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences March 2017. 1 2 Abstract This practice-based research study investigates the structures underlying both a performance art practice, and the ancient epic of Gilgamesh, revealing the relationship between the form and content of this performance practice. This study has asked: 1) What is mythic structure? 2) What is the form of this performance practice? 3) What is the content of this performance practice? 4) How can mythic structure be related to a creative practice? 5) What is the relationship between the form and the content of this performance practice? Addressing these questions, this researcher produced and reflected upon a new body of performance artworks engaging with the ancient epic of Gilgamesh. Observations were then examined in the context of mythographic research, particularly the three-stage ‘hero’s journey’ advanced by Joseph Campbell. Both strands of research were scrutinised in the light of key concepts including the individual and collective unconscious, Salomean identification, and alogicality. This study discovered that the form and content of this performance practice are linked. Critical aspects of the three-stage structure underpinning some ancient myths (typically a separation, liminal period, and reintegration) were identified in the development and performance of the Gilgamesh Cycle works. The performance content reflects an alogical sphere that characterises Campbells’ liminal period. This alogicality privileges connectivity between persons, materials, ideas, and states. Such connectivity exemplifies what this researcher (extending Kaja Silverman’s analysis of poetry and installation art), has termed Salomean identification. Campbell’s use of ‘hero’ as a figure representing the structure described above, is therefore misguided. This researcher has recast this figure as a ‘medium’: a conduit rather than a conqueror. 3 Finally this study has reflected on the success of the Gilgamesh Cycle as performance art practice, concluding that unanswered questions are necessary for the continued production of work. The increasing elucidation of this body of work has, for this researcher, rendered it finite. 4 Contents 10 List of Plates 25 List of Media 27 Chapter 1 Introduction 41 Chapter 2 THE GILGAMESH CYCLE: an introduction to my performance practice 49 Chapter 3 THE GILGAMESH CYCLE: working from the source material 59 Chapter 4 THE GILGAMESH CYCLE:! !Written composition 59 4.1 Script 60 4.2 writing 61 4.3 Development Process: scripting the work 63 4.4 ‘Internalisation’ 65 4.5 Experiment: To Sing Of Gilgamesh (a. 2012). 65 4.6 Editing 69 4.7 Memorising 70 4.8 Experiment: Of Gilgamesh, And Others 74 4.9 The Final Text 79 4.10 Poetic Context 82 4.11 Accessing the Unconscious 106 Chapter 5 THE GILGAMESH CYCLE:! choreography and site!. ! 107 5.1 The site of SS Rotterdam 111 5.2 Choreography 119 5.3 Experiment – A Love Song, For Gilgamesh (b.2013). 123 5.4 Experiment: To Sing Of Gilgamesh (a.2012) 124 5.5 Experiment: Of Gilgamesh, And Others (a.2012) and (b.2013) 125 5.6 Experiment: To Sing Of Gilgamesh (a.2012) 126 5.7 Experiment: Mouth Open In An Open O (a.2012) and (b.2013) 130 5.8 Contextualising the Choreography. 130 5.9 The Hero’s Journey 134 5.10 Myth and Ritual 5 136 5.11 Examining Script and Choreography in Concert 138 Chapter 6 THE GILGAMESH CYCLE: vocal delivery 141 6.1 Experiment: A Love Song, For Gilgamesh (b.2013) 142 6.2 Analysis of Vocal Delivery 150 Chapter 7 THE GILGAMESH CYCLE: the performance garments 153 7.1 A Garment for A Love Song, For Gilgamesh 157 7.2 Experiment: To Sing Of Gilgamesh (a.2012) and (b.2012). 159 7.3 Experiment: Of Gilgamesh And Others (a. 2012). 160 7.4 Experiment: Of Gilgamesh, And Others (b. 2013). 161 7.5 My Clothes and Others’. 171 7.6 Clothing and Ritual Performance. 175 Chapter 8 THE GILGAMESH CYCLE: performer and audience 175 8.1 Audience Experience 178 8.2 My Experience of Performing 178 8.3 Performing A Love Song. 181 8.4 My Experience of Watching Another’s Performance. 184 8.5 Contextualising the Discussion of Performer/Audience Experience 203 Chapter 9 Mediums, Sibyls, Shamans. 231 9.1 The Artist As Psychopomp 236 Chapter 10 Conclusion 238 10.1 Mythic Structure 239 10.2 The Form of this Performance Art Practice 240 10.3 The Content of this Performance Art Practice 243 10.4 How can mythic structure be related to a creative practice? 10.4.1 Alogicality 10.4.2 Journeying 10.4.3 Joining 248 10.5 The relationship between the form and the content of this performance practice. 249 10.6 Documentation 250 10.7 Success of the Gilgamesh Cycle 6 255 Appendix A: Narrative Summary of the Gilgamesh Myth 255 Sources 255 Dramatis Personae 256 Narrative 263 Appendix B: Close Reading: Joan Jonas, Lines in the Sand (extract) 263 Background 263 Close Reading 267 Appendix C: Close Reading: Rachel Rosenthal, Gaia, Mon Amor (extract) 267 Background 267 Close Reading 271 Appendix D: Programme Notes: Linder, The Darktown Cakewalk 278 Appendix E: The Gilgamesh Cycle: Chronology 280 Appendix F: To Sing of Gilgamesh (a.2012) 280 Details 281 Narrative Account 283 Photography by Lyndsay Mann 288 Script 291 Audio 292 Appendix G: Of Gilgamesh, And Others (a.2012) 292 Details 293 Narrative Account 295 Photography by Rose Lejeune 297 Script (extract) 301 Audio 302 Appendix H: To Sing of Gilgamesh (b.2012) 302 Details 302 Narrative Account 305 Photography by Alan Dimmock 309 Script 309 Audio 310 Appendix I: Gilgamesh Song (a.2012) 7 310 Details 311 Narrative Account 313 Photography by Alan Dimmock 314 Script 318 Appendix J: Mouth Open In An Open O (a.2012) 318 Details 319 Narrative Account 321 Photography by Jonathon Purcell 326 Script 333 Supporting Text 335 Audio 336 Appendix K: Mouth Open In An Open O (b. 2013) 336 Details 337 Narrative Account 339 Photography by Bea de Sousa 341 Photography by Anna Wilson 344 Appendix L: Of Gilgamesh, And Others (b. 2013) 344 Details 345 Narrative Account 347 Photography by Niall Macdonald 349 Performance Schedule 353 Script (extract) 357 Appendix M: A Love Song, For Gilgamesh (a. 2013) 357 Details 358 Narrative Account 360 Photography by Ghislain Amar 364 Audio 365 Script 371 Appendix N: A Love Song, For Gilgamesh (b. 2013) 371 Details 372 Narrative Account 8 373 Video Documentation 374 Photography by Hydar Dewachi 380 Script 386 Appendix O: The White Ink Lecture (2015) 386 Details 387 Narrative Account 389 Photography by Katie Bruce 391 Script 403 Bibliography 9 List of Plates 41 1. Rehearsal image for To Sing of Gilgamesh (a.2012). Photography by Lyndsay Mann, courtesy the artist. 43 2. The Self As Knower Does Not Know The Self As Known (2006). Installation, Mixed media (plaster, pigment, graphite) Glasgow Project Room. Photography by Alan Dimmock, courtesy of the artist. 44 3. Octagon Upon Octagon (2008). Tramway, Glasgow. Photography by Minty Donald, courtesy of the artist. 46 4. Mouth Open In An Open O (a.2012). Cornerhouse, Manchester. Photography by Jonathon Purcell, courtesy of the artist. 47 5. Mouth Open In An Open O, Cornerhouse, Manchester, 2012. Photography by Jonathon Purcell, courtesy of the artist. 49 6. Clay head of Humbaba, with a face representing coiled intestines. (Circa 1800- 1600 BCE). From Sippar, southern Iraq. Collection of the British Museum. ‘Religious/Ritual Equipment / Mask’. The British Museum, no date. Online. Accessed 31/06/15. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/colle ction_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=32497001&objectid=388863 50 7. Odysseus and the Sirens (2010). Centre for Interdisciplinary Artefact Studies, Newcastle. Photography by Glyn Goodrick, courtesy of the artist. 52 8. Drawing by an unnamed woman, unknown medium, size, or date. C. G. Jung. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (Vol 9 pt 1), trans. R F C Hull, 1959, London: Routledge. Second edition 1968. 2009. Pg 380. Print. 55 9. Head of a lion, 11 cm x 12 cm, silver, lapis lazuli and shell. Dated circa 2550 BCE. One of a pair excavated from the death pit of Queen Puabi’s tomb, in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, Mesopotamia. ‘Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur’. Wilson, Karen L. The Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago, no date. Online. Accessed 25/06/15. https://oi.uchicago.edu/museum-exhibits/special-exhibits/oriental-institute-museum 10 56 10. Alexander McQueen, untitled, corselet ensemble, materials unknown, fall-winter 2001, Givenchy Pret-a-Porter. Photograph by Bruno Pellerin. Harold Koda. Extreme Beauty, the body transformed. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2002. Pg 94. Print. 56 11. Alexander McQueen, The Search for the Golden Fleece, dress, gold leather, spring-summer 1997, House of Givenchy Haute Couture. Photograph by Sølve Sundsbø. Harold Koda. Extreme Beauty, the body transformed. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2002. Pg 92. Print. 57 12. Babylonian frieze showing king Ashur-nadin-ahhe II in ceremonial costume (detail). Unknown date. Collection of Brooklyn Museum. ‘Relief of Ashurnasir’. Brooklyn Museum, no date. Online. Accessed 14/05/15. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/70577/Relief_of_Ashurnasir 59 13. Performance copy of script from Of Gilgamesh, And Others (b.2013). Courtesy of the artist. 61 14. To Sing of Gilgamesh (a.2012). Bruce Building, Newcastle. Photography by Lyndsay Mann, courtesy of the artist. 62 15. Mouth Open In An Open O (a.2012). Cornerhouse Manchester. Photography by Jonathon Purcell, courtesy of the artist. 63 16. Rehearsal image for A Love Song, For Gilgamesh (2013).