WhiteFroth
Palpitating Body, Sounding Dress
A project submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts
Winnie Ha
B.Des., B.Arts
School of Architecture and Design
College of Design and Social Context
RMIT University
2010
!
Declaration
I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work
is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in
whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of
the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official
commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work,
paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics
procedures and guidelines have been followed.
Winnie Ha
24 November 2010
!
Thank you.
For research supervision and support.
Associate Professor Robyn Healy
Doctor Michael Fowler
Professor Harriet Edquist
For editing.
Elana Steinberg
For collaborating.
Jeffrey Hannam
Janette Hoe
Mariela Laratro
Nicole Collins
Marc Morel
For the ‘almost graspable.’
Marlene, Anya, Marcus.
And to my family – my heart.
Contents
Prelude ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 01
Marking the Territory ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09
Body, dress -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10
Sound --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16
Sensing Dress ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
The Performative Body --------------------------------------------------------------- 23
Butoh Influence ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25
Poetics, phenomenology ------------------------------------------------------------- 27
I. Doing ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32
Collaborating ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33
Listening, moving ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 35
Capturing Sound ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 39
Wearing Microphones ---------------------------------------------------------------- 41
II. Expressing (The Final Night) ------------------------------------------------------------------ 45
White Froth, Thomas Hardy -------------------------------------------------------- 46
Curating an Experience -------------------------------------------------------------- 48
Phase 1 – Froth --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 51
Phase 2 – Burden ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 54
Phase 3 – Bursting ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 57
Phase 4 – Restraint/Relief ------------------------------------------------------------- 59
I I I . Opening ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 62
Liveness ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 63
Precious Moments --------------------------------------------------------------------- 66
Imagining ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 70
Postlude --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 75
Bibliography and Selected Readings ---------------------------------------------------------------- 80