Theatrical operations at the royal palace of Mandalay, Burma 1880–1885

Ein Vortrag von Friedlind Riedel im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung: Entangled Art Histories. Objekte – Narrative – Diskurse

01. Dezember 2022 | 17.15 Uhr | Raum E.002 (HS Agnes Muthspiel) | Unipark Nonntal

The 1880s not only mark the final annihilation of the Burmese empire at the hands of the British colonisers but also the end of the mye waing, a circular stage on which musical dramas (pyazat) were presented at the royal palace. This talk will trace the shift from theatre ‘in the round’ to a theatre ‘in the cube’ by interrogating the specific techniques of appearance in these two media milieus. The circular performance space was not only a curiosity to colonial observers but their accounts of it reveal an eagerness to find their own History reflected in it. The primary sources for the theatrical arrangements at the Burmese courts are water colour paintings on thick fan-folded paper (parabeik). These paintings not only depict dramatic performances but are themselves performative: they have to be unfolded, an operation that not only directs the viewer’s gaze but that itself processes appearance and sets up relations of showing and seeing within the image.

Die Vortragende:

Friedlind Riedel is a researcher at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar working on a monograph that deals with Burmese music theatre from the late nineteenth century until today and which is based on longitudinal ethnographic and archival research. She is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of the Phenomenology of Music Cultures and has published widely on music and atmosphere. Her current work sits in the midst of Theravada Buddhist thought, media philosophy, (ethno-)musicology and sound studies.

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