Performing Mourning: Laments in Contemporary Art

The pandemic has once again made us more aware of the fragility of life and the importance of being able to properly mourn the dead. Dramaturg Guy Cools has been researching laments and other rituals of mourning. The laments are a formal device, used in many cultures to express and contain the emotions of grief. In a personal way Cools explores cultural habits, traditions, rituals, and artists' performances. His narrative looks into many forms of laments: literary, anthropological, philosophical, and in contemporary art practices. The latter part delves into artistic strategies to address or embody mourning and how they deal with different kind of losses, including the very recent phenomenon of lamenting not just the losses of the past, but also the loss of a future.

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Performing Mourning: Laments in Contemporary Art

The pandemic has once again made us more aware of the fragility of life and the importance of being able to properly mourn the dead. Dramaturg Guy Cools has been researching laments and other rituals of mourning. The laments are a formal device, used in many cultures to express and contain the emotions of grief. In a personal way Cools explores cultural habits, traditions, rituals, and artists' performances. His narrative looks into many forms of laments: literary, anthropological, philosophical, and in contemporary art practices. The latter part delves into artistic strategies to address or embody mourning and how they deal with different kind of losses, including the very recent phenomenon of lamenting not just the losses of the past, but also the loss of a future.

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Performing Mourning: Laments in Contemporary Art

Performing Mourning: Laments in Contemporary Art

by Guy Cools
Performing Mourning: Laments in Contemporary Art

Performing Mourning: Laments in Contemporary Art

by Guy Cools

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Overview

The pandemic has once again made us more aware of the fragility of life and the importance of being able to properly mourn the dead. Dramaturg Guy Cools has been researching laments and other rituals of mourning. The laments are a formal device, used in many cultures to express and contain the emotions of grief. In a personal way Cools explores cultural habits, traditions, rituals, and artists' performances. His narrative looks into many forms of laments: literary, anthropological, philosophical, and in contemporary art practices. The latter part delves into artistic strategies to address or embody mourning and how they deal with different kind of losses, including the very recent phenomenon of lamenting not just the losses of the past, but also the loss of a future.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9789492095985
Publisher: Valiz
Publication date: 11/02/2021
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 5.25(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Guy Cools is a dance dramaturg. He has worked as a dance critic and curator. He now dedicates himself to production dramaturgy and research/writing. He regularly lectures and publishes internationally, and has developed a series of workshops that aim to support artists and choreographers in their creative practice.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Personal Story 9

Elegiac Literature: Mourning as a Motivation to Write 23

The Greek moirológhia as a Template for Performing Mourning 35

Laments in Contemporary Art 55

Laments to Dialogue with Those Who Are Absent 59

Laments as a Collective Form of Witnessing 87

Laments of Exile and Migration 119

Lamenting Unlived Lives 141

Lamenting the Future 157

Coda: On Lullabies 171

References 181

Index 187

Acknowledgments 193

About the Author 197

Partners 201

Arts in Society Series 211

Colophon 215

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