Acting together: the art of collective improvisation in theatre and politics

Abstract

The paper analyzes the concept of collective improvisation and draws out its potentials for social and political theory. Translating the ideas of collective improvisation from their original context in the theatre into the field of political thought, I argue that they offer a new understanding of political action by re-evaluating the concepts of dissensus (Rancière) and community (Nancy), as well as the ways in which politics as a system needs to produce collectively binding decisions (Luhmann). I conclude that the ideas inherent in the practice of collec-tive improvisation, as it has been developed within the tradition of modern theatre improvisation, subvert our intuitive ways of thinking about politics and thereby offer an alternative model of being and acting together.

Rad analizira pojam kolektivne improvizacije i mogućnosti njegove primene na društvenu i političku teoriju. Tvrdim da nam prevođenje ideja o kolektivnoj im-provizaciji, iz njihovog izvornog pozorišnog konteksta u polje političke misli, otva-ra nova razumevanja političkog delovanja, preosmišljavanjem pojmova neslaga-nja (dissensus) (Ransijer), zajednice (Nansi), i politike kao sistema kolektivno obavezujućih odluka (Luman). U zaključku tvrdim da nam ideje inherentne prak-si kolektivne improvizacije – kako je razvijana u tradiciji moderne pozorišne im-provizacije – podrivaju intuitivno mišljenje o politici i time pružaju alternativni model za zajedničko bivanje i delanje.