Linn da Quebrada, 2020. © Gabriel Renne.

Tickets are free; register here.

Normandy Sherwood: Theatrical objects and the occult: talismans and trash

Edmund B. Lingan:  Expressions from the permeable borders of the occult, theatre, performance, and decadence

Giulia Casalini: Trans/gender ‘terrorism’ and occultism in Linn da Quebrada’s afro-Brazilian post-punk music and performance

Normandy Sherwood: Theatrical objects and the occult: talismans and trash
This talk adds to the conversation around decadence and the occult in the theatre from my perspective as a designer and crafter of theatrical objects (mostly garments and props). These objects are the result of labour-- a crystallization of care and attention. They are intricate and purpose-built for arcane theatrical purposes -- the breakaway suit, the false ham, the Austrian-rigged curtain. The value of these objects, however, is volatile.  In the context of “the show” these objects are of supreme value, repositories of the magic of the theatre, revered ritual objects. When “the show” is over, their value almost immediately leeches out, and they become ripe for ritual trashing, disposable rather than precious. The decadence of the theatrical object is that it is simultaneously a site of occult power and one of uncanny piteousness. How might understanding the simultaneity of the theatrical object’s status as trash and talisman help us see though received notions about the value of objects?

Normandy Sherwood is a playwright, director, costumer and performer. Her works include Beast Visit, Madame Lynch, Permanent Caterpillar, and The Golden Veil, and they have been presented in NYC at The New Ohio Theatre, The Public Theater, The Kitchen and more. Her new show, Psychic Self Defense, explores the occult possibilities of theatrical curtains and is being developed as part of HERE’s HARP residency. She and Craig Flanagin make no-wave music-driven spectacles with their company, The Drunkard’s Wife.  She was a co-Artistic Director of the OBIE-award-winning National Theater of the United States of America (2000-2017, R.I.P.). As a costumer, she has designed for Rachel Chavkin, Young Jean Lee and Faye Driscoll (BESSIE Award, 2009), among others. She plays in the band God Is My Co-Pilot and teaches Expository Writing at NYU. www.thedrunkardswife.com

Edmund B. Lingan: Expressions from the Permeable Borders of the Occult, Theatre, Performance, and Decadence

Many of the esoteric practices and beliefs that were associated with the rise of the Occult Revival during the late nineteenth century had existed for thousands of years. Nevertheless, the rise of “occultism” at that particular time developed, in part, from the permeability of borders separating several cultural elements: including spirituality, religion, sexuality, ritual, theatre, performance, and art. Operating within the complex intersections offered by this permeability, occult expressions sometimes took the form of performances rooted in an understanding of decadence as a liberation from the restrictions of a moralizing bourgeoisie, strict gender coding, and religious authority. This presentation considers how an iconoclastic desire to acquire gnosis by transcending oppressive restrictions combined (and continues to combine) theatre, performance and the occult to the end of experiencing the marvelous and the otherworldly within the conceptual sphere of decadence.

Dr. Edmund B. Lingan (Professor of Theatre, University of Toledo) researches intersections between theatre, performance, art, spirituality, and the occult. His work appears in journals (including PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, Ecumenica, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism) and in anthologies (including The Routledge Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions). His book, The Theatre of the Occult Revival: Alternative Spiritual Performance from 1875 to the Present (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) studies the function of theatre within occult circles. His forthcoming book, The Otherworld in the Midwest (University of Illinois Press) studies alternative spiritualities in the Midwestern US.

Giulia Casalini: Trans/gender ‘terrorism’ and occultism in Linn da Quebrada’s afro-Brazilian post-punk music and performance

Linn da Quebrada is one of the rising stars in Brazilian pop culture. Born in the favelas of São Paulo, her music is a fusion of styles (from rap, pop, funk carioca, afro-house, techno and punk) and her performances have reached both the underground and the mainstream, never compromising her open fight against sexism and transphobia. In this presentation, I will explore how her visuals, explicit language and ritualistic acts gather affective coalitional communities and trans-sisterhoods in order to cast a powerful collective spell against the destructive patriarchal powers.

Giulia Casalini is an independent curator-artist based in London, PhD candidate at Roehampton University (Techne-funded, 2019-2023). Her study analyses artists and collectives whose live art practices have been informed by queer-feminist politics, aesthetics and ethics beyond the Anglo-American canons. She is the co-founder and artistic director of the non-profit arts organization Arts Feminism Queer (CUNTemporary, est. 2012) and of the performance-club night Deep Trash (est. 2014).

This event is part of a series, 'Staging Decadence', co-hosted by The Decadence Research Centre and Staging Decadence.

Kindly sponsored by the Decadence Research Centre, with support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.