Sensuous machines: embodied mechanics of cinematic performances

This essay will chart a geography of machines, bodies, and memories that is broad and far-reaching. The reader will travel through this terrain along a single winding path, via the tracks of film machines and dance machines (human bodies), taking extra time to pause, breathe, and reflect where the two intersect. A description of sensuous geographies as mediated through engagement with anachronistic machines (such as trains and film equipment) will prepare the reader for a journey in which the human body becomes implicated and integrated with the mechanical body. The impact of the machine on the body of the operator leaves traces that trigger memories; the human body itself becomes a machine in performance that excites memories in both the performer and the viewer. Our journey ends with the ephemeral and fleeting nature of these machines and media that are preserved in the transparence of our senses and memories.