RefiningUranium

Bob Wiseman's Ecomusicological Puppetry

Bibliographic Data

ID3914259
AuthorsAndrew Mark (0000-0001-6707-2779, York University, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume4
Issue1
Pages69-93
Publication date2014-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironmental Humanities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2201-1919 • E-ISSN: 2201-1919
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/22011919-3614935
OpenAlexW2188159167
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited30

This paper describes Bob Wiseman's allegorical piece, Uranium, arguing that it accesses emotion to alter the consciousness of percipients. Audiences respond with unusual intensity to Uranium's tragic environmental narrative. By using puppet theatre, film, comedy, and song to win their trust, Wiseman is able to shock his spectators. With interviews and consideration of the semiotic content of Uranium, I explore possibilities for activation of ecological consciousness through performing arts. Building on the shared ideas of Heinrich von Kleist, Gregory Bateson, and Thomas Turino, I argue that Wiseman offers one particularly useful mechanism to advance environmental concerns and learning through the arts. This paper seeks to bridge environmental and (ethno)musicological thought, and has specific relevance to the growing field of ecomusicology, presenting a musical ethnographic case-study in singer-song-writer activism

Aesthetics · Art · Bridge (graph theory · Comedy · Consciousness · Content (measure theory · Epistemology · Ethnography · Literature · Musical · Narrative · Performing arts · Sociology · The arts · Visual arts · Anthropology · Diverse Musicological Studies · Music History and Culture · Music Technology and Sound Studies · Philosophy

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Open DOIOpen Access