In this seminar we approach the practice of the tableau vivant from the framework of multiple geographies to examine the constellations of agents, media, and meanings behind the practice in different contexts.

(GVA-CIAICO/2024/76)

Described by Jérémie Koering as a border or frontier overrun by its past and its future (2014, 308), the tableau vivant is an art form that dwells at the crossroads – between arts, media, cultures, histories, and temporalities. It is an interval between present and past, presence and absence, life and death, original and copy. From the tableaux of Passion plays and the living pictures of early modern joyful entries to the poses plastiques of the music hall, the frequent recreations in artist biopics, or the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s #MetTwinning campaign at the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns, mimoplastics are proof of the enduring desire to revisit and reterritorialize familiar artworks and images. As part of the funded research project “Women Staging and Re-Staging Multiple Geographies in Anglophone Cultures (1800-2000s)” (GVA-CIAICO/2024/76) and under the auspices of the Department of English and German (UV), with this seminar we want to approach the practice of the tableau vivant from the framework of multiple geographies (Alexander and Cooper 2024; Horton and Kraftl 2013; Liodaki et al. 2024; Preda and Radomska 2025) to examine the constellations of agents, media, and meanings behind the practice in different contexts. From this perspective, the tableau vivant emerges as a productive site of convergence and exchange.

MAIN ORGANIZERS: Laura Monrós-Gaspar (Laura.Monros@uv.es) and Cristina Santaemilia (Cristina.Santaemilia@uv.es)

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Laura Monrós-Gaspar (UV), Cristina Santaemilia (UV), Victoria Puchal Terol (VIU), Sarai Ramos Cedres (VIU), María Gaviña Costero (UV), Marta Calatayud (UV)