When absence becomes performing arts

When visitors enter Marcia Nemer’s studio in Stockholm, initially intended as simple viewing, something unexpected happens. 

‘As soon as the first person closed the door behind them – them inside the studio and me outside – I realised it was a performance’, says Marcia Nemer.

This is the core of her research: exploring how absence can become an active part of the performing arts. Marcia Nemer, with a background in acting and set design in Rio de Janeiro and further studies in Frankfurt, demonstrates that what is not on stage can affect the audience just as much as what it is.

A research process in flux
Just as Marcia was about to start her PhD at SKH, the pandemic broke out and the circumstances surrounding her research changed. Planned performances with actors were no longer possible, but Marcia saw the opportunity in the absence that surrounded everyone.

‘We were surrounded by absence, so it was a matter of finding an absence and starting there’, says Marcia. 

Through residencies, reworked plays and performances without her own physical presence, she has found new ways of making theatre. 

From a classic play to new perspectives
Her interest in absence was sparked during her master’s studies when she re-read the play Miss Julie. A particular insight emerged regarding the character of the Count – a figure who influences the plot despite never appearing on stage.

‘It was the first time I really thought about absence in theatre and what absence can do’, says Marcia. 

This became the starting point for exploring how absence can convey presence and meaning, and how artistic research can take on new forms of expression.

To explore absence, Marcia created a variety of experimental artistic situations where something was removed or noticeably missing from what was customary. She led city walks from afar in a city she had never visited. She did a production of Romeo and Juliet where she cut out the two main characters, leaving the stage empty when Romeo or Juliet would have appeared. She invited artists to a residency to work in her studio, without herself interacting with them. And finally, she let people into the studio to just be there and take in impressions, without anything happening or her performing. The latter in particular is something Marcia wants to continue working on.

This type of artistic research is more than experimentation – it is innovation that can inspire the entire arts sector and contribute to new ways of thinking about stories, experiences and human perception.

‘I'm really interested in inviting people into a space without a guideline or precise dramaturgy of what I want to happen there, but just to set up a space, an experience and let people come in’, says Marcia.