Biography
Esa Kirkkopelto is a performance artist, philosopher, and artist researcher focusing on the deconstruction of the performing body in theory and practice. Kirkkopelto was Professor of Artistic Research at the University of the Arts Helsinki (Finland) in 2007–2018 and now holds a similar professorship at the Tampere University. He is a theatre director and founding member of the live art collective Other Spaces.
‘’With Logomimesis Esa Kirkkopelto explores the “performing body” as both a scenic and linguistic phenomenon. Breaking with traditional subject-oriented conceptions of both the body and performance, Kirkkopelto, who studied with Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, reworks the latter’s notion of mimesis to illuminate the myriad ways in which bodies encounter each other both on stage and off. The book is unique in combining an impressive knowledge of contemporary philosophy with extensive practical experience in theater. It marks a singular and decisive contribution to contemporary critical theory – and practice.’’
Samuel Weber, Avalon Foundation Professor of Humanities at Northwestern
‘’Kirkkopelto offers us a thorough and much-needed deconstruction of “the art of the actor,” as an exemplar of the modern subject, from within the lineage of western metaphysics. The careful unpacking of the relationship between body and language brings the theatrical metaphor of the scenic into the contemporary ethical and political moment.’
Ben Spatz, University of Huddersfield
