Aesthetics of absence in theatre: Heiner Goebbels plays

Theatre artists such as Gertrude Stein, Vsevolod Meyerhold and Adolphe Appia at the beginning of the 20th Century; Bob Wilson, Richard Schechner and Richard Foreman in the 1960's and 1970's did performance oriented theatre works. However, according to Heiner Goebbels despite these theatrical works theatre is based on classical artistic experience in terms of "presence". Heiner Goebbels has been doing plays that can be considered to pose a challenge to the concept of "presence" in theatre. The director has been focusing on the idea of removing the basic element of theatre from the stage since the 1990's. The aim of this study is to discuss the "Aesthetics of Absence" with reference to Heiner Goebbels' plays. Within the scope of the study his plays which are classified as installation, staged concert, music theatre and opera are to be analyzed and also the history of this aesthetics is taken back to the works of avangardes. In this respect, the study is based on the relationship between Aesthetics of Absence, avant-garde and modernist aesthetics. The study is in search of the continuation between the artistic practices at the beginning of the century and the artistic practices at the end of the century.