Absurdism+2+Absurdism+Today

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=__Absurdism Today__=

According to Brockett, the following well known contemporary artists can be grouped as absurdist: Samuel Beckett, Eduard Albee, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Jean Genet, and Eugene Ionesco. //Waiting for Godot// by Samuel Beckett is probably the most famous absurdist play performed today. The play consists of two character who are waiting for Godot (who never shows.) Plays from these playwrights are performed in many theaters around the country. Last year, the Dowling studio at Guthrie theater produced a production of //Happy Days,// another one of Beckett's plays. Many people left during intermission. This led me to ask the question, "Where can absurdist art be recieved? And what sort of reaction or lack there of is experienced by an audience who isn't used to opening their mind to this type of theater?"

__**Some Recent Absurd Art**__
The following pieces of current art found their way into this absurd grouping because they matched some or all of a set of search criteria I formed from Martin Esslin's idea of what elements created Theater of the Absurd, and other elements that our group continually observed in what we consider to be absurdist art.
 * **__ A bs ____urdist Search Criteria:__

A.)​ The artists view themselves as outsiders both from society and the artistic realm B.) Former assumptions hold no meaning in today's world C.) The human condition is seen as absurd and meaningless from the individual point of view D.) A search happens with no luck in finding anything E.) Speaks to the idea of language not being an adequate representation of the human condition ** || http://www.citypages.com/2008-09-10/calendar/bad-jazz-tickled-pink/
 * //Bad Jazz// at Open Eye Figure Theater in Minneapolis, MN.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/apr/25/popandrock1
 * When music meets absurdism (the influence by Alfred Jarry)

http://alangullette.com/lit/absurd/
 * Literature of the Absurd

__Our own absurdist piece__
For our installation, we wanted to send the class on a quest for knowledge. We asked the members of Theater History to begin their journey by making a choice. "Go to the person who you think is smartest, you have twenty minutes to learn as much as you can." We decided to present the information in five different ways. Peter was the laid back yogi, Corey was a mad scientist, Angela (imagine since life happens and on the day of the project a flat tire plotted against Angela's arrival) was a dry professor full of information on Antonin Artaud, Max was an old fashioned professor, and I was a robot. I was shocked as i looked through the eye holes of my robot head that so many people chose to gain their knowledge from a computer screen, assuming that is where they would gain the most insight. We all lectured for a few minutes and then began our quest for knowledge outside of the classroom. The yogi lead his group in some yoga poses, going deeply into the explanation, but not really allowing much participation. Angela's group would have gone to the bus stop and waited for a bus that would never come. Max led his group in a hunt for a chair.The mad scientist teamed with the robot to search for knowledge in books. Once they arrived at the library (the center of knowledge) the mad scientist fed a page of a book to the robot who digested the material and revealed a new map leading back to the classroom. These quests were formed from ideas that the group had that were then turned into proposals from Corey ([|click here to see document ).] We tweaked these proposals into what was seen in class on Thursday. The final portion of the quest led all groups back to the Theater History classroom where each participant was given a sheet with the knowledge they sought in "invisible ink". We played around for a long time with the idea of really putting invisible ink messages on the pieces of paper, but ultimately decided that the message was clearer if we left them blank. Artist that we group as absurd were interested in exposing the meaningless journeys people take in the world. I find this to be a bit of a paradox because if there truly was no meaning then why would playwrights want to write pieces at all. The human condition is difficult to explain, but I only find it meaningless if explored alone. Community creates meaning, and art attracts community which is why absurdist theater can be performed. People may be reluctant to give over to the absurdity at first, but surrendering to the absurd can provide alot of insight. You can sit in a classroom and listen to ten different people teach, that doesn't mean that you will ever learn.

__Bibliography__

Brockett, Oscar Gross. "The Theater of the Absurd." //History of the Theatre//. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1977.

Crabb, Jerome P. "Theater of the Absurd." //Theaterdatabase.com//. 06 May 2010. Web. 06 May 2010. .

http://alangullette.com/lit/absurd/

http://www.citypages.com/2008-09-10/calendar/bad-jazz-tickled-pink/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/apr/25/popandrock1