Assembly Performance / A Participatory Practice in the roots of Democracy

Abstract

The present thesis investigates the concept of assembly performance as a distinct category within the field of participatory performance and its potential to foster democratic activation among spectators. Inspired by a personal experience attending Danae Theodoridou’s An Attempt to Devise a Democratic Assembly, I explore how performance structures rooted in the assembly format can offer alternative spaces for collective reflection and action in contemporary neoliberal societies. Amid growing political alienation and the erosion of public spaces for democratic dialogue, assembly performance merges the aesthetic and political dimensions of theatre to invite active, embodied participation from diverse publics. Building on theoretical frameworks by Florian Malzacher, Judith Butler, Claire Bishop, and Augusto Boal, I propose that assembly performances construct temporary communities where participants enact real-time democratic processes. This is achieved through dramaturgical strategies that foreground participation, embodiment, and collective decision-making while challenging the hierarchical conventions of traditional theatre and public discourse. Employing Liesbeth Groot Nibbelink’s contextual analysis method, I examine three case studies - World Climate Change Conference by Rimini Protokoll, Theatre of Negotiations by Philippe Quesne and Raumlaborberlin, and An Attempt to Devise a Democratic Assembly by Danae Theodoridou. These performances are analysed through the lenses of assembly, participation, and democracy to assess how each invites and enables democratic engagement. Through contextual analysis, I argue that the most effective assembly performances not only engage participants in real assemblies but also activate critical reflection on democratic practices and possibilities. Ultimately, the thesis contends that assembly performance holds significant potential to reimagine democratic participation by fostering embodied, plural, and reflective encounters among citizens. It advocates for further experimentation with this form as a means of countering political passivity and neoliberal individualism in the public sphere.