Verlander, Freya (2020) (Skin)aesthetics: a study of skin(s) in spectatorship. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The status of the skin in studies of embodied spectatorship is under-examined as, too, is the concept of the skin as the ‘common sense’ or the site upon which all other senses converge. This is an interdisciplinary study of skin(s) in spectatorship which investigates how the skin functions as the site/sight/sound of spectatorial engagement, intersubjectivity, and sensory slippage. I develop a new method of analysis for skin(s) in spectatorship and performance studies called “(skin)aesthetics”. As an approach, (skin)aesthetics combines various theoretical and conceptual modes in the analysis of skin, from Didier Anzieu’s psychoanalytic theory of The Skin Ego (1985), to French philosopher Michel Serres’ The Five Senses: A Philosophy of Mingled Bodies (1985), to research in contemporary neuroscience with a focus on synaesthesia, mirror neurons, and mirror touch synaesthesia.

With recourse to a number of case studies including plays; live-art exhibitions; and contemporary dance, I suggest how various modes of appreciation including direct skin-to-skin contact; extramediated touch; haptic visuality; and mirror neuron function influence the spectator’s experience of skin-based intersubjectivity as well as enhancing their understanding of a work and/or its wider implications. I consider a number of aesthetic materials (including, but not limited to, Vaseline, gelatine, fabric, sounds, and paint) to suggest how they influence the way in which spectators relate to the ‘other’s’ skin. The concept of the skin becomes more attenuated as the thesis progresses by moving away from experiences of direct skin-to-skin contact. The thesis is designed to emphasise the number of ways the skin functions as a multisensorial site of engagement as well as the pervasiveness of the skin in the social and sensorial imagination. Ultimately, I look to suggest how we might occupy another’s skin in more than a loose metaphorical sense. I suggest how the spectator’s engagement, via whatever sensory modality, with skins and (skin)aesthetics in the performance context reinforces the basic psychoanalytic ideas, outlined by Anzieu, of skin-based identity formation and intersubjectivity. I interrogate the representations of skin(s) for the societal and/or psychological issues they encode and, indeed, suggest how practitioners might manipulate the spectator’s skin-based experience to similar effect/affect – be that social, empathetic, educational, aesthetic, erotic or, indeed, torturous – in future productions.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BH Aesthetics N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Skin in art, Skin, Aesthetics, Spectators in art, Spectators
Official Date:	June 2020
Dates:	Date Event June 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Barry, Elizabeth, 1972-
Sponsors:	University of Warwick. Centre for Arts Doctoral Research Excellence
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	3-245 leaves : illustrations
Language:	eng

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