A Space for Tears

“A space for tears” explores the relations of the phenomenon of absence and performance and their implications for both art and life practices. The connections are uncovered through the exploration of the forms and modalities of absence, the positionality of absence as a constitutive element of performance, the affinity of absence and the questions of embodiment and the interconnection death and mourning ritual with performance. The driving force of this research is the need for (re)establishing a healthy relationship with absence, which would not be confined exclusively to the artistic realm. The paper is conceived as a hermeneutic study in a polemic tone, utilizing theoretical and literary works of poetry and prose as well as folk literature as equal sources. The plurality of sources and especially their form and origin ties in with the expansion beyond art practices, which bids to consider alternative repositories of knowledge. Capturing and keeping the fluidity and ambivalence of the researched topics is a key feature of the research, which remains thoroughly visible. The study keeps the weave of conclusions open, ready to be correlated with practice.

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