Maska journal

Dvojniki in njihova telesa

All the doubles that are created by working with the body, by talking, writing or thinking about it, potentially alter our physical bodies. In fact, our body is in company of doubles as soon as it is entering this world because acts of speaking, naming, thinking, reasoning etc. ascribe meaning to the body and thereby have an effect on it already then. It is not only surrounded by the various visual doubles that inhabit the media and are primarily produced by (video)cameras.

When we write about it, the material body that is always already in the process of becoming (an)other (body) is necessarily a missed one (as it can also be said about it´s appearance on pictures). As ways of thinking and being body directly influence each other, being body implies a fundamental paradox: while being undoubtedly material it is simultaneously subject to constant disembodiment. When reflecting on the body, it is often treated as a body of sense that serves as a reference to meaning, it lays itself a snare in it´s search for signs and sense, Jean-Luc Nancy wrote, and is totally entangled in it. As soon as we write, think or speak about the body, but also if we work with it, the production of doubles is at stake.

These doubles – once set out into a certain discourse or performance – thus buzz through diverse contexts, spaces and minds and can have a great influence on the body in retrospect.
Which kinds of bodies do all these doubles that sourround us have? Do we get a glimpse of them in certain performances, in certain texts?