Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Marks, Susan

Area of Concentration

Religion

Abstract

This thesis provides a comparative close-reading of Genesis 22:4 and its complementary midrashic explorations through which I define the creative extents and limitations involved in classical rabbinic midrashic interpretation. I then analyze the relatively scant academic work on the artistic culture of contemporary midrash. I critique the appropriation of the midrashic canon by artists, which I argue is used as a means of claiming spiritual justification in artworks, and briefly outline the midrashic process utilized in The Remaining Hours. The second half of the thesis outlines the contemporary midrashic process used in creating The Remaining Hours, a series of four devised performance installations created by myself and six other students towards demonstrating modern manifestations of faith through an interpretive lens of Genesis 22. Finally, I analyze the performances and identify the affect of the contributing midrashic elements of repetition, ambiguity, representation of identity, and collaboration in the manifestation of spatial relationships between bodies, and the degree to which this generates spirituality and community. I argue that a devised style of performance in its structural similarities to the midrashic process serves as the most potent form of theater by which to create performative contemporary midrash.

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