(Syn)aesthetics

(Syn)aesthetics offers an original theory that describes a range of performance work whilst simultaneously providing a critical discourse for appreciating and analyzing such work. In the book, Machon helps to articulate the power of experiential practice in the interdisciplinary arts, encompassing bodies, space, the written and spoken word and new technologies in performance. This exciting approach incorporates interviews with leading practitioners in the field of theatre, dance, site-specific work, live art and technological performance practice including Punchdrunk, Shunt, Graeae, Bodies In Flight, Curious, Akram Khan, Naomi Wallace, Kwame-Kwei-Armah, Marisa Carnesky, Linda Bassett and Jo McInnes. These discussions clarify how (syn)aesthetics works in practice across diverse artistic events and document the tantalizing, performative quality present in the (syn)aesthetic exchange between thinking and practice. (Syn)aesthetics engages a unique and sensual approach to thinking/producing/writing/receiving, which celebrates the continuum of experience that underpins (syn)aesthetic practice and appreciation. By acknowledging individual interpretation as a creative act and emphasizing the playful element of arts analysis (syn)aesthetics is an empowering tool for students and practitioners of performance, especially those wary of or inhibited by traditional academic discourse.