Why are people across the world so fascinated by the dramatisation of killing? From Shakespearean tragedy to Hitchcock’s Psycho, the spectacle of violence is central to performance traditions around the world.
Through an exploration of historical and contemporary works by international artists, grappling with the horrors of homicide, Eyewitness considers how violent stage and screen narratives can invite questions about our own morality, cultural codes and religious beliefs.
From hand-operated glove puppets to the sophisticated technology of large productions, the materiality of performance can provide an entry point for viewers to discuss how frameworks of justice and ethics are established by societies. What effect does witnessing so much violence in our daily lives have?
This exhibition is part of the Sainsbury Centre’s Can We Stop Killing Each Other? season.
[Image caption: Toyohara Kunichika, Ichikawa Sadanji I as Jirozaemon and Nakamura Fukusuke IV as Yatsuhashi in Kagotsurube sato no eizame, 1888, colour woodblock print. Courtesy of Paul Griffith Collection]
