Addicted to drugs from an early age and incarcerated in mental asylums throughout his adult life, Antonin Artaud was nevertheless one of the most brilliant artists of the twentieth century. His writing influenced entire generations, from the French post-structuralists to the American beatniks. He was a key figure in the European cinema of the 1920s and '30s, and his drawings and sketches have been displayed in some of the major art galleries of the Western world. Possibly best known for his concept of a 'theatre of cruelty', his legacy has been to re-define the possibilities of live performance.
This resource collects for the first time some of the best criticism on his life and work from writers such as Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, Maurice Blanchot, Herbert Blau, Leo Bersani and Susan Sontag.
Containing some of the most intellectually adventurous and emotionally passionate writings on Artaud, this book is essential reading for Artaud scholars working in arts disciplines including theatre, film, philosophy, literature and fine art.

Contents:
Acknowledgements Note on the Text Introduction. On Antonin Artaud: A Beginner's Guide to Cruelty
Part 1. On Biography: Madness and Language I) André Breton, with André Parinaud from Conversations: the Autobiography of Surrealism ii) André Breton, 'Homage to Antonin Artaud' iii) Georges Bataille, from 'Surrealism from Day to Day' iv) Sylvère Lotringer, a selection from an interview with Jacques Latrémolière v) Gilles Deleuze, 'Thirteenth Series of the Schizophrenic and the Little Girl'
Part 2. Theatre: Acts and Representations i) Jacques Derrida, from 'The Theatre of Cruelty and The Closure of Representation' ii) Helga Finter, from 'Antonin Artaud and the Impossible Theatre. The Legacy of the Theatre of Cruelty' iii) Jerzy Grotowski, 'He Wasn't Entirely Himself' iv) Jane Goodall, 'The Plague and its Powers in Artaudian Theatre' v) Herbert Blau, from 'The Dubious Spectacle of Collective Identity' vi) Susan Sontag, from 'Approaching Artaud' vii) Leo Bersani, 'Artaud, Defecation and Birth'
Part 3. On Writing and Fine Arts i) Maurice Blanchot, 'Artaud' ii) Julia Kristeva, from 'The Subject in Process' iii) Jacques Derrida, from 'Forcener le subjectile' ('To unsense the subjectile') iv) Umberto Artioli, from 'Production of Reality or Hunger for the Impossible?'
Part 4. Beyond Words: On Film and Radio I) Allen S. Weiss, 'K' ii) Denis Hollier, 'The Death of Paper, Part Two: Artaud's Sound System' iii) Mikhail Yampolsky, from 'Voice Devoured: Artaud and Borges on Dubbing' iv) Francis Vanoye 'Cinemas of Cruelty?' Bibliography Index

This book illuminates the shift in approaches to the uses of theatre and performance technology in the past twenty-five years and develops an account of new media dramaturgy (NMD), an approach to theatre informed by what the technology itself seems to want to say. Born of the synthesis of new media and new dramaturgy, NMD is practiced and performed in the work of a range of important artists from dumb type and their 1989 analog-industrial machine performance pH, to more recent examples from the work of Kris Verdonck and his A Two Dogs Company. Engaging with works from a range of artists and companies including: Blast Theory, Olafur Eliasson, Nakaya Fujiko and Janet Cardiff, we see a range of extruded performative technologies operating overtly on, with and against human bodies alongside more subtle dispersed, interactive and experiential media.

"Lacan says that the hysteric is a question raised to the medical establishment: Artaud is nothing but the question itself and it's a question raised to art, to theatre, and to society. The question itself cannot be defined because it's the function of the question that's important." (Sylvere Lotringer).

"100 Years of Cruelty" brings together responses to the Artaud question from some of the leading contemporary scholars working in the humanities today. The essays cover a wide variety of topics in opening the Artaud question to the disciplines -- and the demarcations upon which so much knowledge and art practice is defined. They are intended as an affront to conservative thought, as an attack on clinical reason and as an open challenge to the corporate university.

Edward Scheer is a lecturer in the School of Theatre, Film and Dance at the Univerisity of New South Wales. Other contributors include Rex Butler, Alan Cholodenko, Lisabeth During, Frances Dyson, Patrick Fuery, Jane Goodall, Douglas Kahn, Julia Kristeva, Sylvere Lotringer, Mike Parr, Bill Schaffer, Edward Scheer, Lesley Stern, Samuel Weber, and Allen S. Weiss.

How do performers and artists use media technologies to create live events? How have developments in audio-visual technology changed the relationship between the spectator and the performer? How can performance respond to the technology-saturated consciousness of contemporary culture? What are the key concepts and terms needed to understand multimedia performance? Multimedia Performance provides a comprehensive overview of the development, theory and definitive characteristics of this rapidly developing and popular area of practice. Drawing on case studies from across a wide range of contemporary performance, the book introduces key artists, companies and debates. Klich and Scheer describe new and emergent forms including video performance, digital theatre, interactive dramaturgies and immersive environments, presenting an up-to-date analysis of the evolving relationship between technology and aesthetics in contemporary performance culture. Exploring the different ways in which technology can activate new aesthetic potentials and audience experiences, Multimedia Performance demonstrates the vital role of multimedia technologies in contemporary theatre practice. Supported by illustrations, media theory and textboxes, this is important reading for anyone interested in questions of the live and the mediated aspects of performance, and essential reading for students of theatre and performance.