Crypt-Poesis

How might writing be a performative archaeology? First, go down into the depths of the earth. Into the chthonic materiality that is archaeology's domain. Here can be found the traditional notions of darkness, burial, hiddenness, and exhumations from the crypt. Then things hidden in the dark app...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Performance research 2018-03, Vol.23 (2), p.55
Main Author: Sleigh-Johnson, Sophie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Materiality
Performance theory
Writing
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:How might writing be a performative archaeology? First, go down into the depths of the earth. Into the chthonic materiality that is archaeology's domain. Here can be found the traditional notions of darkness, burial, hiddenness, and exhumations from the crypt. Then things hidden in the dark appear. Ancient stone tablets are examined as an example of a textual crypt, made even more resonant when they are spell tablets; an enfolding of embodiment and exposition, in a performative intersection of site, matter and inscription. Spell casting vacillates between writing archaeology, and breath, as seen Artaud's spell works, that burn holes in the gap between sign and signifier; inside and outside; body and material support, as demonic marker. Looking at the crypt structure and its relation to writing, extending its role from chthonic charnel house to generative transmitter, the crypt will be seen to be a method that allows writing to enact this rift, unearthing never-present psychic sediments of the past, and their invocation into the air to disrupt the archive - that is, a magic performative writing that invokes flickering suspension of the present.
ISSN:1352-8165
1469-9990
DOI:10.1080/13528165.2018.1464755