Exercises in intra-acting: A zone of potential And an exercise about not dropping out. ‘Tape yourself to a green chair.’

Abstract

This article is about the participatory performance event <i>Speak for yourself (Snakk for deg sjøl)</i> performed mainly for teenagers at schools through the Norwegian Cultural Schoolbag program (<i>Den kulturelle skolesekken</i>), but also for an open audience at Hålogaland Theatre and the Arctic Arts Festival. The center of the discussion concerns <i>what</i> has agency to initiate various ways of participation and produce a zone of potential in this performance event. The author is one of the artists of the performance and thus the diffractive analysis is informed by her role as artist-researcher. The study’s theoretical framework is inspired by the theory of agential realism from physician and feminist theorist Karen Barad.<br><br>

The analysis suggests that the initiation of participation is a complex process influenced by both human and non-human performative agents in intra-action with each other. This study will especially focus on the formulation of exercises, performance objects, social media, multiplicity and affect t as <i>performative agents</i> in this performance event. The study indicates that being attentive to the performative agents at play and the kind of participation they produce can potentially create a space where there is room for inclusion, diversity, and unpredictability. This kind of zone of potential also has value for other participatory projects in the intersection between pedagogy and art.