LUDVIG UHLBORS
Towards a Deep Ecological Dramaturgy
LU DVIG U H LBORS
Arne Næss Gjenoppstandelsen Photo by Kjersti Vetterstad, with Arturo Tovar and Kjersti Aas Stenby
EDITED BY C LARA J. RE ICH & SINDRE C. HOFF
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The author is the initiator of an interdisciplinary Arne Næss sect, which was established in 2015 at the philosopher’s cabin Tvergastein. The purpose of the stay was to gain a physical understanding of Deep Ecology and to use it for art. So far, their experience has generated three theatre productions, two exhibitions, two documentary films, several art installations, two expeditions and two site-specific manifestations of Deep Ecological lifestyles.
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ithin theatre, questions are being raised concerning the reproduction of colonial and patriarchal ideas. Connections between craft and old hierarchies are being scrutinized. Simultaneously, the ongoing climate crisis urges all of us to reconsider our relationship to nature. If this signals a period of changes for theatre, it is also partially due to a shift in discourse. It no longer suffices to understand our human condition as a battlefield of power structures or as a world of sociological and linguistic symbols. Nature has returned to our awareness as the physical and concrete factor it always has been, defining us and the terms of our existence, and it demands that we resume our relationship with it. In my work, I have turned towards the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss for inspiration and to his philosophies of Deep Ecology and Gestalt Ontology.
Arne Næss (1995) referred to the mountain ridge Hallingskarvet as his father and described its crevices as living entities. This way of relating to a mountain as a subject activates a possible parallel to the ideas of professor Karen Barad (2007). Barad uses the observation that neutrons alter their behavior under study to invite a conclusion that reality is the sum of the gaze of the viewer and the object being viewed. Such thoughts, presented within the field of New Materialism, supports Arne’s animistic attitude and opens up for a metaphysical understanding of theatricality as they allow us to imagine that any material has a consciousness, of sorts. Other theorists seem to be on a similar track, seeking ways to embrace animistic or shamanistic worldviews within their own projects. One of them is professor Gene
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