Hierophanic Architecture: The Space of Performance
Open Access
- Author:
- Espinoza, Elizabeth
- Graduate Program:
- Architecture
- Degree:
- Master of Architecture
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- May 02, 2013
- Committee Members:
- Jodi La Coe, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Katsuhiko Muramoto, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Milagros Ponce De Leon, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Mehrdad Hadighi, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- performance
conceptual art
performance art
uncanny space
space of the other - Abstract:
- Antonin Artaud described theater as a way to penetrate the audience’s subconscious causing a transformation within them through visceral experience of space and performance. He suggested that space should no longer be experienced rationally but rather experienced through action, senses, and emotion. This creates a chasm between the classical description of space and that of a space which is alternative. In this chasm a new description can be provided to describe the space of emotion, senses, and performance. This alternative description of space is Hierophanic architecture; a manifestation of architectural presence, although not tangible, it can be felt. As this presence is manifested, a sacred or numinous quality is associated with said presence. Mircea Eliade suggests that when sacredness is revealed, the space becomes qualitatively different from the space surrounding it. Operating in the threshold between architecture and performance allows for there to be a less descriptive notion of architecture capturing the narrative of performance, creating, not an ideal space, but a space of the ‘other’ able to constantly conform to our bodies and sensations. Hierophanic architecture attempts to transcend both body and matter.