Widzowie w laboratorium : między teatrem a technauką

In this paper, we develop and question the metaphoric use of this notion in theory and practice of theatre in the twentieth century. We explore the notion of laboratory as a way to address the problem of the changing roles of spectators and their political functions within the framework of new hybrid cultural forms throughout the twentieth century. The topic of the proposed paper is an attempt to draw a historical genealogy of laboratory from the point of view of contemporary questioning of the borders of scientific and humanist disciplines. From early laboratories created by Robert Boyle, to more recent laboratories of social process in the performative arts to the current cyber-era and its technological means, this paper analyses the contract between performers and spectators, engagement, participation, witnessing and liveness.