Disrupting the Binary of Otherness—A Semiotic Reading of the Performance L’autre by Claudio Stellato

Authors

  • Franziska Trapp University of Münster, University of Montpellier

Abstract

Given its title, the contemporary circus performance L’autre, created by Claudio Stellato and Martin Firket in 2008, clearly contributes to discourse about otherness. But by what means and procedures? This paper aims to show how the construction of otherness is based on the repetition and adoption of conventional conceptions of otherness. It explores in what ways the performance simultaneously manages to subvert and overcome commonplace binaries such as “self” and “other” through its semantic structure. By using structuralist methods of analysis,  this paper aims to explain how the performance L’autre functions.

Author Biography

Franziska Trapp, University of Münster, University of Montpellier

Franziska Trapp is the founder of the research project Zirkus | Wissenschaft at the University of Münster and organizer of the international conferences "Semiotics of the Circus" (2015) and "UpSideDown – Circus and Space" (2017). She has worked for various circus productions, such as the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain, and completed the Certificate en Dramaturgie Circassienne (CNAC, ESAC).

Circus Amok's Jennifer Miller

Downloads

Published

2018-03-26

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1-2 (2018): Circus and Its Others

Section

Reading Circus Bodies and Signs (Section Editor: Michael Eigtved, University of Copenhagen)

License

Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings.

Manuscripts submitted to Performance Matters should be original works that have not been published elsewhere. Note that authors are responsible for obtaining permission to include copyrighted material in any article or review published in Performance Matters.