French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Gonon, In Vivo: Figures of the Street Arts Spectator
Theatre and Performance
Anne Gonon, In Vivo: Figures of the Street Arts Spectator
Montpellier: L’entretemps, "Carnet de rue" series, 2011.
EAN 9782355391262.
Price 16 EUR
224 pp.
Publisher's description:
The relationship that forms between artists and spectators is mysterious. Street arts play with the audience's role and serve as a wonderful prism for observing this suspended moment. Combining a researcher's perspective, a spectator's gaze, and the expertise of a field professional, Anne Gonon has been analyzing the question of the street arts audience—and more specifically, the spectator—for nearly ten years. In the essay In Vivo: Figures of the Street Arts Spectator, she takes the reader on a journey to the heart of this relationship. After tracing the dense history of this artistic movement born in the 1970s, in which the question of the audience is central, she explores the experience of reception to better grasp the challenges and paradoxes of the spectator. Street arts thus reveal themselves to be marked by an aesthetics of reception, whose benefits and dangers are numerous. The full complexity of the relationship with the spectator is thus brought to light. Performance narratives complete the analysis, offering the reader a subjective counterpoint and a sensory escape.
Anne Gonon draws on a decade of professional expertise and academic research to examine the subtle mechanics of performance reception. Tracing the trajectory of the street arts movement originating in the 1970s, the volume highlights how open-air and public-space performances inherently redefine the traditional boundaries between stage and audience. Rather than acting as passive observers, spectators become active participants in a shared ephemeral event. The study scrutinizes the aesthetic, social, and psychological dimensions of this encounter, shedding light on the paradoxes that define contemporary performance art and its reliance on spontaneous community engagement.
Designed for researchers, performing arts professionals, and curious theatregoers alike, the book bridges critical analysis with experiential accounts through integrated performance narratives. It provides valuable tools for understanding the evolving sociology of audiences within modern cultural landscapes. By focusing on the tangible realities of outdoor performance, the work addresses fundamental questions regarding how art is consumed, shared, and remembered in public spaces. Readers interested in contemporary aesthetics, dramaturgy, and cultural sociology will find it a compelling resource for contextualizing the role of the modern spectator.