The Good, The God and The Guillotine: Insider/Outsider Perspectives

Abstract

Blain (composer, performer) and Turner (ethnographer, dramaturg) discuss the processes that led to the development of collaborative strategies over the course of making the multi/interdisciplinary performance The Good, The God and The Guillotine. Focusing on their respective positions as 'insider' and 'outsider', the authors consider the efficacy of different types of collaborative approaches tried out over the course of the project in relation to what, following Lavender, they define as 'concentric circles of collaboration'. The circles of collaborative decision-making are here critically aligned with Kant's notions of 'interested' and disinterested' aesthetic judgement, as well as Carroll's taxonomy for qualifying aesthetic experience. The resulting critique provides significant insights into creative development and collaborative decisionmaking processes in performance-making projects.