Jack Smith's Rehearsals for the Destruction of Atlantis: ‘Exotic’ Ritual and Apocalyptic Tone1

Abstract

Jack Smith is an icon of the theatrical avant-garde of the 1960s, a pioneer of the New American Cinema, and a founding figure in the development of performance art. This article draws together some thoughts on Smith's practice by focusing on the figures of the ‘exotic’ and ‘apocalypse’, considered in relation to catastrophe, the uncanny, spatiality, laughter, and the hoax. In the wake of Lee Edelman's recent polemic against ‘futurity’ in No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, Smith's practice is examined here in order to pose a critical counterpoint to the forceful opposition between negativity and affirmation. Engaging a series of critical models, this article examines the place of the ‘exotic’ in thinking about sexual and racial difference, as a means of thinking difficult or volatile modes of cultural practice. As such, it stages a confrontation between ‘exotic ritual’ and ‘apocalyptic tone’, to challenge conventions about scholarly practice and find new ways of examining uncomfortable spaces and modes of working.