Leo Marko Senior lecturer

I am a researcher in theatre and performance studies with a PhD since September 2024. My disseration is about presence, the ineffable and what it means for something to be live. It reaches across a wide area of aesthetic and philosophical concerns, with a firm foundation in theatre and performance studies. The basic understanding of liveness as being here and now is examined and the concept is expanded beyond the realm of what is technically live to what produces a sense of the live nature of reality. At the centre of the study is an analysis of Zeami's writings on performing art and aesthetics from 15th century Japan. Zeami is known as the most prominent figure in the history of nō theatre. In my dissertation the focus is on his understanding of beauty and interest as bound to a situation and related to "not knowing." These ideas are placed in dialogue with present day discussions on liveness and the theorization is also expanded in relation to various sorts of aesthetic experiences.

My research interests include nō theatre, presence and liveness, Daoist and Buddhist philosophy, phenomenology, critical theory, everyday aesthetics, and utopia in performance.