Performance and Posthumanism : co-creation, response-ability and epistemologies

Posthumanism implies a revision of all aspects pertaining to performance, from the creation process to its performance, reception and (knowledge) transmission. This introductory chapter provides a genealogy of posthuman research and calibrates the terms and concepts used by the authors in this book to reflect on the diverse constellations of posthuman composite bodies on stage. The many features of posthuman performance practices that are tackled in the edited volume are structured along the notions of co-creation (dramaturgies), response-ability (ethics) and epistemologies. As such, this essay offers a useful overview and a toolbox to artists, scholars and audiences with regard to the vocabulary, the theoretical tropes, the questions and potential answers that arise in our contemporary posthuman condition.Posthumanism implies a revision of all aspects pertaining to performance, from the creation process to its performance, reception and (knowledge) transmission. This introductory chapter provides a genealogy of posthuman research and calibrates the terms and concepts used by the authors in this book to reflect on the diverse constellations of posthuman composite bodies on stage. The many features of posthuman performance practices that are tackled in the edited volume are structured along the notions of co-creation (dramaturgies), response-ability (ethics) and epistemologies. As such, this essay offers a useful overview and a toolbox to artists, scholars and audiences with regard to the vocabulary, the theoretical tropes, the questions and potential answers that arise in our contemporary posthuman condition.B