Between Holograms and Special Effects, Richard Maxwell and Philippe Quesne Challenge the Audience

The performing arts are one of the most changeable and yet most durable means of expression. Their languages, styles, forms, content and function set the tone for the times. Certainly placing a well-defined performance in a geographical constellation secures its meaning and power; likewise, a well-defined historical moment is able to assign a specific political and social weight to a performance. Nevertheless, even the forms of theatre at the farthest extremes can be reunited by one constant, which keeps the performing arts in live contact with reality in a way different from any other art form: the audience. With his presence, a spectator enforces the essential spontaneity and unreplicatability embodied by a theatrical act. Through the direct and physical nature of this contact, the performing arts can be seen as bright pieces of cultural evidence. Each time at a different pace and with different critical relevance, in the live relationship between the performer and the spectator takes place that true social and political spirit which every art should pursue.