Cold Whitman

Cold Whitman

Background: This research sits within the field of Performance Studies, focusing on the avant-garde theory of Artaud’s ‘Affective Athleticism’ (1938), along with Queer Theory and 19th-century American poets who are part of the Romantic or Transcendentalist tradition - shaped by mediatisation. The central question asks: How can the embodied voice, informed by Artaud’s ‘Affective Athleticism’, manifest affect through a mediatised cold reading of 19th century queer poetry? Theoretically, Artaud’s metaphysics of acting equates virtuosic vocal athleticism with affective transmission. Additionally, the research draws on Harris (2020) who theorise that the reader’s bodily response to poetic voice induces affect when mediated by technology, while Markina (2022) explores tensions between human voice and technological reproduction as emblematic of Modernist fragmentation. Contribution: Cold Whitman is a recorded cold reading of select Walt Whitman poems, performed by researcher David Fenton, interwoven with improvised vocalisations and presented via a listening post with a computer-generated visualiser. The work sits with in the field of other feminist artists who improvise vocalisation such as Carolee Schneemann ‘Interior Scroll’ (1975), Mariana Valencia ‘Jacklean (in rehearsal)’ (2025), Ana Mendieta ‘Imagen de Yagul’ (1973), and Guerrilla Girls, ‘Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?’ (1989). However, this work operates as research the tests the scholarly assertions about affect in mediatised performance, extending Markina and Harris’s assertions into practice-led inquiry. By prioritising improvisation first in response to the poems, Cold Whitman explores real-time affective generation—an area neither scholar has empirically examined. It bridges sound studies, performance, and literary theory as embodied poetic inquiry. Significance: The work translates theory into practice-led testing and was exhibited in the UniSQ community show Previous Owner (March 20–April 29, 2025), alongside nationally recognised artists Kyle Jenkins and Rhiannan Johnson. With an estimated 250 visitors, the exhibition affirmed the work’s contribution to the UniSQ School of Creative Arts’ vibrant artistic community.

References:
• Artaud, A., 2005. Oeuvres complètes. 1,1: Préambule. Adresse au Pape. Adresse au Dalaï-Lama. Correspondance avec Jacques Rivière, Nouv. éd. revue et augm., repr. ed. Gallimard, Paris.
• Guerrilla Girls, 1989. Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum? [Performance art/poster campaign]. Performed in public spaces, New York City. Whitney Museum of American Art. Available at: https://whitney.org/collection/works/46923 [Accessed 10 Aug. 2025]
• Harris, M.L., 2020. The Voice Prints of Poetry: Recorded Speech and the Listener’s Body in Victorian and Modernist Verse. PhD thesis, University of Toronto. Available at: https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/items/ac56ad79-1cbc-4489-97c7-d81b0fe9...
• Markina, I., 2022. For the record: Voice and orality in Guillaume Apollinaire’s “Lettre-Océan”. Modernism/modernity, 7(Cycle 2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.26597/mod.0241(https://modernismmodernity.org/articles/markina-record-voice-orality...).
• Mendieta, A., 1973. Imagen de Yagul [Performance art]. Silueta Series, Yagul, Oaxaca, Mexico. Documented in: Smith College Museum of Art, 2013. Performed Invisibility: Ana Mendieta’s Siluetas. [online] Available at: https://scma.smith.edu/blog/performed-invisibility-ana-mendietas-sil... [Accessed 10 Aug. 2025].citeturn6search32
• Schneemann, C., 1975. Interior Scroll [Performance art]. Performed at Women Here and Now exhibition, East Hampton, NY, August.
• Valencia, M., 2025. Jacklean (in rehearsal) [Performance art]. Performed at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 12–23 March. Available at: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5763 [Accessed 10 Aug. 2025]