Overview

Embodying Wittgenstein’s own aphorism of “you’d be surprised,” this collection of original essays by both artists and academics explores the significance of Wittgenstein’s writings across a diverse field of performance practices, including poetics and choreography, theatre, and psychotherapy, as well as reflections on political thought and ChatGPT. Fundamentally, the collection shifts the discussion of philosophy and performance away from the well-established distinction between Analytic and Continental traditions to offer examples of Wittgenstein’s inspiration in and for the different practices that are explored in each essay. Between Wittgenstein’s proposals in the Tractatus that “the world is all that is the case” and in the Philosophical Investigations that “words are also deeds,” how might the thought of philosophical questions already inform those of and for performance? How do conceptions of the limits of the one articulate those of the other? And how might such questions be not simply a matter of philosophy or performance alone, but indeed of and for performance philosophy?

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9781538175095

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Reviews

There are few people with the nerve to reacquaint Wittgenstein and performance, but Mischa Twitchin is one. Having recognised the curious elision of the Analytic tradition from almost all interdisciplinary pairings of thought and theatre, this critically incisive and often playful collection sets about recovering the potential for a practiced poetics of philosophical rigour. -- Alan Read, professor of theatre and director of Performance Foundation, King’s College London This inventive collection shows that Wittgenstein’s impact on the arts, from poetry to performance, continues to evolve in new directions. By mixing artists and scholars, the volume allows readers to explore surprising lines of influence and to make their own connections across different forms of writing and thinking. An intellectual treat. -- Martin Puchner, Harvard University Taken together, the essays here profoundly honor the very special feature of Wittgenstein’s mode of thinking, which is so playful and creative that it was bound to inspire the crossings between thinking and performing to which this book testifies. A much-needed book, in Wittgenstein’s spirit. -- Mieke Bal, co-founder of the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis (ASCA)

Author Information

Mischa Twitchin is a lecturer of theatre and performance at Goldsmiths, University of London.

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