Symbolon (Oct 2020)
La « voyeurisation » du public dans la performance surrealiste a l’exemple de « L’acte manque » (1938), « Priere de toucher » (1947) et « Banquet cannibale » (1959) - une kampfansage a la morale sociale
Abstract
The Process of the Audiences’ ‘Voyeurisation’ in Surrealist Performance - Challenging Society’s Morals Through the “Unconsummated Act” (1938), “Please Touch” (1947) and “Cannibal Banquet” (1959) In their major performances – “The Unconsummated Act” organized for the inauguration of the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme in 1938, “Please Touch” presented at “Le Surréalisme en 1947” and “Cannibal Banquet”, realized for the opening of the “Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme (E.R.O.S.)” in 1959-, the surrealists introduced a special play with the audience. Taking advantage of the fact that these scandalous events, mostly built on the naked (female) figure, drew in a large number of spectators, they involved those present in their games and made them (un)voluntary participants. By simply being there and looking at what happened before him, the spectator became an accomplice in the surrealists doing. Because of his desire to gaze upon the differently staged and naked female body, the surrealists exposed his apparent satisfaction of looking. The spectator was therefore openly stigmatized: he became a voyeur.
