Abstract

Abstract:

Spectatorship is a force that can materialize and transgress borders. It is an inescapable component of war and the relations between states. Picture postcards of men watching the Mexican Revolution from atop a hotel roof or across the Rio Grande feature prominently in Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance, a bilingual experimental chamber opera composed by Graham Reynolds with libretto by Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol. Deconstructing spaces of cinematic, photographic, and theatrical spectatorship, Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance offers new ways to investigate the violence of looking in an aesthetic context where the space of spectatorship and the space of cultural encounter coincide.

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