The Theatrical Image. Cartographies of the Body as Presence in the Scenic Realization

Abstract

The possibility of a modulation on the image and on the concept of image is displayed in the numerous contemporary theatrical practices that question the traditional notion of representation. The particular presence of corporalities that can be identified in them may be approached as a cartography that articulates and presents different concepts and experimentations through / on the bodies. From this perspective, we will try to propose and base the concept of theatrical image, starting from some Deleuzian categories and following their drifts. The performance of the bodies on stage constitutes a peculiar mode of presence that can be understood as an image. However, a theatrical image is not captured by the logic of representation. Instead, it opens the horizon towards another logic, which hosts a series of forces that are defined in its realization, just as other dimensions –like the intervention of the visible, the sonorous, the tactile– do as well, in off-center relationships. The performative character of certain theatrical practices is, therefore, crucial to understand the body-image (imagen-cuerpo). In this essay we will try to combine these concepts, considering as a reference some recent experimental plays: Un des-generado en el claro de luna (Gires Escénicas, La Rioja. 2017) and Bajorrelieve apocalíptico (Los Toritos, Mendoza, 2018).