The Orgasm

[intima]

THE ORGASM

Intimate Artistic Communication, conceptual dramaturgy, end of 
metaphor or "Free Your Mind And The Rest Will Follow"


text by Igor Stromajer [atom at intima.org] 
intima | virtual base [www.intima.org] 


ARTISTIC COMMUNICATION OF CONCEPTUAL DRAMATURGY

Dealing with contemporary artistic communication, e.g. that which 
takes place on the archeological remnants of modernism, we can 
not possibly disregard one of its essential constituents - that of 
dramaturgy. We can, however, easily (and without bad conscience) 
ignore the recent epigon artistic communication based on 19th 
century narrative and its painless, passive, template dramaturgy. 
After modernism, the only active artistic communication of 
theoretical interest remains conceptual artistic communication. It 
can also be defined as dynamics communication, or artistic 
communication of conceptual (active) dramaturgy. The term 
"dramaturgy" should be understood in its pre-original sense - 
derived from the Greek notion of dramatourgos, combining drama 
(an act) and erhein (to make, to work).

Thus, a dramaturge is someone who makes (creates) an (artistic) 
act, not one who either writes dramatic texts (as was the original 
Greek meaning of the word) or analyses them and their medium 
"translation" (which, unfortunately, remains the main preoccupation 
of the repertory, 19th century dramaturgy wedged in the present 
day). A dramaturge is a creator, a demiurge (a maker, creator of the 
concept of an artistic communication event). The epigon middle-
class communication employs the dramaturge as an analyst, a 
practical consultant or a lexicograhical co-worker, whereas modern 
artistic communication views him as a demiurge. Dramaturgy is a 
concept; logically, the dramaturge's position in the process of 
creating artistic communication is a basic indicator of the presence 
of a concept (internal equilibristics) within an event.


RECEPTOR AS INDIVIDUAL

Artistic communication of conceptual dramaturgy calls for a 
meticulous construction (dramaturgy) of all the constituents in an 
artistic communication event, and especially accurate an analysis of 
the relations between the event and its receptor - considering the 
latter a part, an active co-creator. In this sense, conceptual 
dramaturgy differs entirely from classical dramaturgy which does not 
foresee any specific function for the massive and undefined 
audience, considering it a passive amorphous mass of people 
sharing more or less similar feelings and thoughts.

Artistic communication of conceptual dramaturgy, however, views 
the receptor (spectator, observer, listener, smeller, toucher, taster 
etc.) as an individual. Accordingly, the latter is to be assigned a very 
specific position within the structure of an artistic communication 
event, and be treated as its composing part. Due to its transience 
and singularity, every artistic communication event exerts a different 
influence upon each receptor (rationally as well as emotionally, 
depending on the psychophysical structure and the reception 
moment/section of the event and the receptor). It is thus senseless 
to demand from a receptor to behave (react) like all the others; one 
should be allowed to respond in accordance with his individual 
values, and in his own way.

In one of his interviews from as early as 1965, Polish dramaturg and 
director Jerzy Grotowsky teaches us that modern theatre (due to 
specific reasons, one of the most important ones being the film 
paradigm) is a theatre of intimate contact between the event and the 
receptor. Regardless of Grotowsky's general aesthetic course and 
his personal direction praxis, several parts of his statement come 
quite close to the aforementioned individualization of the receptor in 
an artistic communication event:

"in this way, every challenge of the actor, his every magic act (which 
the audience is not capable of recreating) becomes something big, 
something special, something close to ecstasy. The most 
conspicuous scenes should take place immediately in front of the 
spectator, with the spectator located within the reach of the actor's 
hand, feeling his breathing, smelling his sweat. That requires the 
form of chamber theatre."

The receptor's individuality brings about a redefinition of an artistic 
communication event as a medium. With a dramaturgy that deals 
individually with each receptor, it becomes senseless to consider 
artistic communication as a mass medium. Artistic communication 
as well as its events is gradually becoming a matter of elite (the 
selected). Massive catharsis (in the Aristotelian sense of the word), 
however, has now long been a matter of Hollywood, CNN, Coca 
Cola and Levi's, with people massively identifying themselves with 
these subjects. The elite stands for the potential receptors 
prepared to co-operate in an event with conceptual dramaturgy, 
those ready to embrace the parameters as offered by the creators 
of artistic communication events.

Thus, the elite is never socially, economically or intellectually 
conditioned, but based on the (free) willingness of an individual (an 
elite member) to accept the physical and spiritual laws (rules) of an 
artistic communication event. The receptor can not hide in the crowd 
or sink into passivity while watching such an event. Required from 
him is either active presence (with the receptor himself regulating its 
structure and intensity according to his personal criteria) or total 
physical absence (not being present at the event at all). The 
separation of the receptor from the event itself by means of a 
dividing line (between the artistic and the non-artistic), is a foregone 
conclusion. The line exists - more even, it is indestructible and a 
prerequisite for entering an artistic zone. It varies in structure 
according to individual dramaturgical concepts of artistic 
communication events, with artistic communication no longer 
possessing a ritual scheme - neither in terms of pre-communication 
(religious rituals), nor para-communication (modernist happenings).


ORGASM AS CATHARSIS

In the artistic communication of conceptual dramaturgy featuring an 
individualized receptor, the role of catharsis is played the orgasm. 
Why so? If a collective receptor no longer exists, an omnipresent 
catharsis can not exist either. The psychophysical climax of the 
receptor's interactive experience of artistic communication is 
represented by an individual orgasm as the highest manifestation of 
his/her fusion with such an event. An orgasm, of course, is always 
individual (although, for example, group sex may be involved); it 
pertains specifically to each individual (in our case: receptor). If we 
want the receptor of an artistic communication event to achieve the 
climax of his experience - the orgasm, we have to treat him/her 
highly individually within the dramaturgical concept, and provide 
him/her with a suitable position in its scope.

We must be especially careful with the strains imposed on the 
receptor. We must never burden him/her with the focus of one 
communicative expressive means only. Artistic communication of 
conceptual dramaturgy understands the choice of means of 
expression as a polygon of the creator's tools for showing 
fantasies, with all the basic expressive means having the same 
(zero) starting point. Only a creation of a concept can establish a 
configuration of the receptor's strains with individual means of 
expression. And only a conceptual harmony/disharmony can bring 
the receptor to orgasm.


END OF METAPHOR

The orgasm phenomenon is also the ground for establishing that, in 
the area of artistic communication of conceptual dramaturgy, we are 
approaching the point when we can speak about the inadequacy of 
metaphor, or rather, of its end. In a practical sense, the metaphor is 
a dead element, because it per definition takes an impotent stand in 
the structure of an artistic communication event. It is namely not 
possible to reach an orgasm with a metaphor. Whoever wants to 
achieve an orgasm, must play for real. That is how things are. In 
artistic communication of conceptual dramaturgy, the process is as 
follows: instead of featuring metaphors (symbols etc.) for the 
receptor to associate them with the concrete, this communication 
presents the concrete to activate the receptor's imagination and 
fantasies. Only then, the mysterious voyage of the senses, 
explanations and feelings, both in the receptor's body and psyche, 
will begin. Nevertheless, all this requires an active receptor 
(individualized and given a very specific position within the 
dramaturgical concept of a communication event), and a direct 
implementation of the syntagm free your mind and the rest will 
follow.


INTIMATE ARTISTIC COMMUNICATION

Everything we learnt so far clearly indicates that, in order for artistic 
communication of conceptual dramaturgy to establish its principles 
entirely, intimate communication will be required. Intimate, of 
course, does not stand for "chamber"; that would be too naïve and 
narrow a definition of the intensive communication between the 
event and the receptor. Intimate artistic communication, which does 
not reject any means of expression, employs a dramaturgy in which 
the basic point of the concept of every event is the structure and 
construction along the event-receptor line. This kind of artistic 
communication concentrates exclusively upon itself, viewing the 
receptor and his bond to the event as its own primary constituent. In 
this context, dealing with oneself means dealing with everything, 
rendering artistic communication as an exclusive, perfect, absolute 
and all-embracing universe. 

This point (the point of perfection) represents an intersection 
between the phenomena of dramaturgy and beauty. Beauty without 
dramaturgy (a concept, i.e. accidental beauty) does not really exist - 
and vice versa, the dramaturgy of an artistic communication event 
can not exist without beauty. Of course, neither absoluteness nor 
beauty have something to do with the issue of general truth. Truth is 
a notion which, at the beginning of the new millennium, becomes 
totally irrelevant as such, devoid of any meaning whatsoever in 
artistic communication of conceptual dramaturgy - all due to the 
individualization of the receptor and a constant creation of new 
concepts (there is no Beauty or Truth, only beauties and truths). 

We can thus establish that intimate conceptual dramaturgy 
understands the beauty of artistic communication as a 
Gesamtkunstwerk in the purest sense if this (by itself beautiful) 
notion. Only intimate artistic communication, that of intimate 
conceptual dramaturgy, can consider and materialize the 
individualization of the receptor, the non-metaphorical course of 
events, and the orgasm. And due to its specific structure of thinking, 
only intimate artistic communication is capable of the maximum 
usage of computer communication technology - the internet, an 
example of intensive communication 
that has conquered the medium.


SYNTHESIS 
- Artistic communication is a pleasure zone (an intimate universe) 
- Internet is a female sex organ (the central point of the universe, 
material for the creator's processing). 
- www, email, flp, irc etc. are a clitoris (the orientation focus eternally 
chased online by the operator and the dramaturge as creators) 
- The operator is a male sex organ (a creative/uncontrolled position 
of the creator) 
- The dramaturge is a condom (a conceptual/controlled position of 
the creator) 
- The receptor is a voyeur (the position of an active participant who, 
like the creator, experiences an orgasm) 


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