ABSTRACT
Representation is a philosophical term for the use of signs that stand in for and take the place of something else. Representation concerns a wide range of subjects: since antiquity, representation has been a fundamental concept within aesthetics, semiotics, and, for about 300 years, since the publication of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, also within politics and political science. All history comes to us as a form of representation and is always represented via narrative. In Rod Dickinson’s reenactment of the Milgram experiment, the paradox of reenactment becomes clear: the critique of representation and the simultaneous creation of distance—often co-existent in one and the same artwork—are key mechanisms in the contemporary practice of artistic reenactments. The reenactment transforms representation into embodiment, and distanced, indirect involvement into— sometimes unpleasant—direct involvement. One could say that reenactment generally is critical of representation, and, through embodiment, seeks to stimulate and activate the imagination.
