Theatre of the Object and Theatre of the Subject: Cultural Determinants of Theatre–Performance Relationship

Abstract

The distinction between philosophy of the object and of the subject is deeply rooted in our culture. Many consequences, including cultural ones, follow from it. Among them is also a change regarding the ways of how the works of art are made and received and also regarding the criterion of art. One instance of this phenomenon is the so called ‘performative turn’. The distinction between theatre of the object and of the subject (which parallels the philosophical distinction) propounded by the main claim of this paper is intended to facilitate understanding of the essence of the change which accompanied the development of the art of performance. The art of the object is represented, to my mind, by the theater; the art of the subject – by the artistic performance. The criterion, in a manner similar to the case of philosophy, is the conviction (or belief) of the creators (as well as of the audience) of the primacy of the subject over the object, of human ability to create an autonomous reality, of human decisiveness regarding the fact of its existence. The conclusion of the presented investigations concerns the character of theatre: the theatre is in its essence performative, however not in the sense attributed to it by contemporary representatives of performance studies. Rather it is so in the sense of how the very nature of reality determines the relation between the subject and the object, human being and the world.