Mug shot: Transraciality – Analysing the race with race in art

Authors

  • Andrei Tiberiu MĂJERI Theatre and Television Faculty, UBB, Cluj Napoca; e-mail: andrei_majeri@yahoo.com

Keywords:

transracial, post-racial, skin, theatricality, identity, bovarism, cultural appropriation

Abstract

In the present article, we analyse the concept of transraciality in art, especially within the performance field, by connecting it with its firestorm manifestations in the modern society. Is transraciality the new frontier in public acceptance or just pure utopia? We’ll talk about our findings by focusing on some pertinent artistic examples and social behaviours. Focusing on the homo fingens as a part of the postmodern deconstruction of the human being, we reach the expending community of persons with mixed background and their interactions with art or the public perception. Hollywood stereotypes, cultural appropriation methods, race bending, collage and pastiche, all form the list of tools we operate with. Furthermore, we’ll focus on media cases involving raw definitions of transraciality, also on some pop culture examples, trying to connect their meanings with theatricality and the theatre/the stage phenomenon. The anxieties of a potential post-racial society put pressure on how we want to be seen by others and break the rules of racial differentiation. The enormous growth in self-consciousness opens a gate for alterity/otherness.

Author Biography

Andrei Tiberiu MĂJERI, Theatre and Television Faculty, UBB, Cluj Napoca; e-mail: andrei_majeri@yahoo.com

ANDREI TIBERIU MĂJERI graduated in 2012 in theatre directing at the Faculty of Theatre and Television of the Babeș-Bolyai University and obtained his MA degree two years later in the same institution. Currently, he is a theatre director and a PhD candidate. Măjeri’s creative research interests include group-theories, gender studies, adaptations of classical plays and acting techniques. He has directed Euripides, Beckett, Witold Gombrowitz, Saviana Stănescu etc. His works are productions of Cluj-Napoca National Theatre (Pandora’s Box by Katalin Thuroczy), Bucharest National Theatre (Organic by Saviana Stănescu –winner of the 2014 9G/ New Generation program) or Turda „Aureliu Manea” Theatre (Ivona, the Princess of Burgundy by Witold Gombrowitz). His shows have traveled to festivals (Organic at FEST-FDR Timisoara and Ivona, the princess of Burgundy at FITN Arad). He is the winner of the 2015 contest for young directors of Craiova National Theatre where he will direct AnticUpdate by Elise Wilk.

References

Prints:

ARROYO, Eduardo, (2009), The Moustache of La Gioconda, Museo de Bellas ARTES de Bilbao/Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia

BISHOP, Claire, (2012), Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, Verso London. New York

CUIBUS, Miriam, (2011), Efectul de culise, Teatralitatea ambiguităţii şi ambiguitatea teatralităţii, (English: The Backstage Effect. The theatricality of ambiguity and the ambiguity of theatricality), Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă, Cluj-Napoca

HUIZINGHA, Johan, (1970), Homo Ludens, New Yok: Harper

LEVI-STRAUSS, Claude, (2014), Toţi suntem nişte canibali, (English: We are all cannibals), Cuvânt înainte de Maurice Olender, Traducere de Giuliano Sfichi, Polirom, 2014

MALIŢA, Liviu, (2010), Extremele artei, (English: The extremes of art) Editura Accent, Cluj-Napoca

MODREANU, Cristina, (2014), Utopii Performative, Artişti Radicali ai scenei americane în secolul 21, (English: Performative utopias. Radical artists of the American stage in the 21th century.), Prefaţă de Marian Popescu, Humanitas, Bucureşti

NOVITZ, David, (2001) The Boundaries of Art, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Place of Art in Everyday Life, Revised and Enlarged Edition, Cybereditions

ŞEVŢOVA, Maria, (2010), Robert Wilson, (Romanian edition), Traducerea din limba engleză: Odette Kaufman-Blumenfeld şi Oltiţa Cîntec, Fundaţia Culturală “Camil Petrescu”, Revista Teatrul azi (supliment), Prin Editura Cheiron, Bucureşti

UBERSFELD, Anne, (1999), Termenii cheie ai analizei teatrului, (English: Key terms of theatre analysis), Traducere de Georgeta Loghin, Institutul European

Online publications:

NITTLE Kareem, Nadra, (2015), What Is Cultural Appropriation and Why Is It Wrong? [Online], Available: http://racerelations.about.com/od/diversitymatters/fl/What-Is-Cultural-Appropriation-and-Why-Is-It-Wrong.htm, July 15th 2015

SMITH, Roberta, (2009) Robert Colescott, Painter Who Toyed With Race and Sex, Dies at 83, [Online], Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/arts/design/ 10colescott.html?_r=0, July 20th 2015

STELARC, (2015), http://www.stelarc.org/July24th2015

Images and videos:

RACHEL Dolezal, CBN News, (2015), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B24Bbsf3U4, viewed July 18th 2015

SACHEEN Little-Feather, Academy Awards, (1973), [Online], Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUacU0I4yU, viewed July 19th 2015

CHER, “Half Breed”video, (1973), [Online], Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6E98ZRaU1s, viewed July 19th 2015

Black kids in vintage commercials, Urban, Tim, [Originally posted August 2013. Updated June 2014.],Creepy Kids in Creepy Vintage [Online], Available: http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/08/creepy-kids-in-creepy-vintage-ads.html, viewed July 20th 2015

“Eat Dem Taters”, by Robert Colescott, 1975, http://archive.newmuseum.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/3482, viewed July 21st 2015

“Natural Rhythm,” by Robert Colescott, 1976, Savannah Morning News- Collection of Robert and Lois Orchard, St. Louis, Mo. http://savannahnow.com/accent/2009-02-14/jepson-center-showcases-robert-colescotts-provocative-paintings#1, viewed July 20th 2015

Cher, Video Dov’eL’amore, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AzWb951iZo, viewed July 23rd 2015

DOLEZAL, Rachel: ‘I Definitely Am Not White’, NBC Nightly News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B24Bbsf3U4, viewed July 24th 2015

Downloads

Published

2015-10-30

How to Cite

MĂJERI, A. T. (2015). Mug shot: Transraciality – Analysing the race with race in art. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Dramatica, 65(2), 199–216. Retrieved from https://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/subbdramatica/article/view/4470

Issue

Section

Articles

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