Gesturing as Substratum and Support: a Case of Continuity

Overview & Synopsis

Gesturing can be understood through the substratum which simultaneously produces and reveals it. Up until now, most research has been motivated by the case where the body reveals gesturing. A study of the means of producing gestures makes it possible to identify the formal criteria that distinguish types of gestures. Our choice is made on the basis of articular description, where the relationship between differing degrees of liberty is described. There exist dynamic relationships that trace a topological geometry. A morphogenetic description centred on form follows them in their movements. The interest of this physiological approach also resides in the contours traced by each gesture. Articular constraints create structural and dynamic links between given degrees of freedom. Gestural schemas are freed and at times develop their continuity over several segments by positing a relation that assumes the same value as the original form. An inventory of these variations shows how the upper member functions both as a substratum that structures gestural forms and as an anamorphotical support for the morphological variations of each gesture. We will show how segmental organising centres structure and project gestural units. We will present specific gestures which are distinguished solely by the flux in their propagation of movement.