HTEB00652U Teater- og performancestudier: The Body as Utopia – in Everyday Life and on Stage

This course explores the paradoxical relation between utopianism and the human body: utopia suggests an impossible ideal – the body by its very existence is possible. And yet, technologies such as brain doping, bodybuilding, plastic surgery or pre-natal diagnostics play with notions of impossible human beauty and capacity – at the same time as they are becoming both possible, and increasingly accessible.

In this course, we will explore the differences between classic and contemporary utopias; what is the body’s respective place in them? What effects have changes in everyday and artistic notions of ‘a better life’ had on utopian visions of the body?  We will study some key utopian texts and concepts, and investigate the historical and contemporary relevance of what is sometimes called ‘human enhancement’. We explore everyday bodily practices, as well as contemporary stage performance and artistic contexts in which bodies arguably themselves become sites for utopia.