Signs of the Times: Structures and signatures

摘要

This article explores different ways in which time structures and signatures can be figured both as a means of analysis and as a strategy for creation of performance work. It extends Anne Bogart's description of time signatures as understood within her system of Viewpoints training, specifically how different modalities of time combine in ways that uniquely identify each performance “in a similar way that the palm of every hand has a unique pattern of lines and creases”. Anne Ubersfeld's general observation regarding the lack of critical tools available for semiotic analysis of time compared with space is also discussed. How such time structures and schemas are actually signified to audiences then becomes the central question: each may involve varying levels of framing, foregrounding and bringing into view, with audiences sometimes consciously engaged with the playing out of these as a central thematic concern. The temporal devices and strategies that drive the generation of material may also be identified explicitly by the work as its defining ‘signature’. Noting how frequently a musical vocabulary asserts itself in this cross-disciplinary context, the article addresses examples such as Mike Figgis' ‘real-time’ film Timecode (2000), for which the shooting script was drafted on music paper to capture its four cameras over four staves on the model of a string quartet, as well as the theatre work of composer Mauricio Kagel - especially his dramatic text Sur Scène (1959) - alongside an exploration of “compositional linguistics”, the idea of “speech as music” and the temporal notation systems of Conversation Analysis. Through such examples, the article sketches the outlines of a semiotics of time in performance that may adequately describe the rich diversity of contemporary practices across disciplinary boundaries.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2012.728440