Dépouillement du document :
[1] WHY QUITTING
A. HOW DID I GET HERE?
Coming or Going? Or Cheating?
The Process of Quitting Circus
First Thoughts on Quitting
B. THE POTENTIAL OF QUITTING AS A SUBJECT

[2] DEFINING QUITTING
A. MOTIVATION FOR QUITTING AS A SUBJECT
I remember
B. QUITTING AS A RESEARCH PROJECT?
Thoughts on Quitting (Circus) as an Intended Unbecoming
C. RELATING QUITTING TO OTHER CONCEPTS AND METHODS
Phenomenology
Pure Phenomenology
Phenomenology of Perception
Thoughts on Pluripotentiality
Vibrant Matter

[3] RELEVANCE OF QUITTING
A. A RANDOM COLLECTION OF THOUGHTS
B. RELEVANCE AND BENEFITS OF QUITTING
Courageous Quitting at the Summer Olympics 2021

[4] REDEFINING QUITTING
A. QUITTING THE PROGRAMME?
Speech #1: The Boycott
B. QUITTING AN IDEA
Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street
Vibrant Matter: Why are we tangled up?
C. CONFRONTING THE IDEAL WITH REALITY
THROUGH YOGA PSYCHOLOGY
Interview with Martin Witthöft
D. QUITTING QUITTING
THOUGHTS ON LETTING GO OF QUITTING AS AN IDEALISTIC CONCEPT
Explaining a Redefining of Quitting
through Phenomenology and Psychology
Narcissism, Vulnerability and Playfulness

[5] PRACTICES OF QUITTING AS A METHOD
A. A SUBTLE APPROACH TO QUITTING AS A PRACTICE
Breathing
Pranayama
B. WHEN MY RIGHT ARM QUIT FUNCTIONING
Quitting Pain
The Breathing Treatment
2006
Talking about Breathing
C. PSYCHOLOGY OF QUITTING: A BALANCING ACT
Synchonization
D. QUITTING AS AN ARTISTIC PRACTICE
Alienation
E. EXAMPLES FOR QUITTING
NOT DOING IN CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCES
Florian Zumkehr: Wilt and shine
A Contemporary Circus Show
Talking to a Specific Idiot

[6] QUITTING STORIES
A. STORYTELLING AS A RESEARCH METHOD
Investigating Quitting Stories
through the Phenomenology of Qualitative Research
Telling Stories as a Making of Space
Anne: A Kind of Quitting – A Near Death Experience
B. QUITTING AS A PRACTICE OF FREEDOM - MAKING A FILM
Meeting the Story
My parents’ Quitting Story
Travel Plans
Random Memories of Rope Trip
Thoughts from inside the Bubble of a Quitting Space

CONCLUSION AND FINAL THOUGTHS

Résumé :
This study offers insight into the process and frst-hand experience of quitting circus. The focus lies in the defning of acts of stopping as a consciouschoice. Stopping is generally seen as negative and unproductive as it caneasily be associated with giving up or failing, and therefore seems to be anunlikely and unworthy subject to be researched. But in the artist’s opinion thedecision to stop carries a consciousness and a creative potential, which qualifes Quitting as a research subject. A substantial part of the research was devoted to defning and redefning the subject’s borders, as well as its heart. Within these explorations, concepts of phenomenology, psychology, storytelling,deconstruction, vibrant materiality and memoir-writing were discovered andrevealed. As a circus performer in transition, the artist was guided throughher research journey by sharing her own story of starting and stopping circus,sharing insights gained through reflective writing and self-observation. These were further enhanced by participating in physical and performance exercises and movement improvisations.Quitting’s potentiality is anticipated inspaces of resistance, moments of inertia, in the motivation for stopping, andin the felds between the old and the ‚not yet‘. This inspired the investigationof symptoms like training, repetition, pressure, perfection and identifcation.

The initial defnition of Quitting as an ‚Intended Un-becoming‘ in a cleansingact of creating a new, unspoilt and authentic starting point was confrontedwith the realization that consequent Quitting would result in death. This challenged the project’s realizability and led to a confrontation with questionsabout achievement and performance. The abandoning of an impossible concept while continuing to pursue the project, presented Quitting as a paradoxand indicated possible new approaches.

Recognizing the act of letting go as an individual event, and practices of realigning and re-synchronization as a generating of the potential that was searched for in Quitting, established the telling of Quitting Stories as a Making ofSpace. Storytelling and interviews with Quitters, practitioners and therapistsare therefore the main practice and expression of this research.

Understanding Quitting’s paradoxical nature enabled its potential as an artistic practice, by presenting subjects in an unexpected way and allowing themto be seen in a new way. Quitting as an artistic practice is an intended futurecontinuation of the research.

Collection : Bibliothèque de l'École nationale de cirque