Ontological Paradigm of Directing in Performative Arts: Overcoming the Crisis of Representation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore ontological directing as an alternative to the classical representational paradigm and to identify its role in shaping the theatrical event as a rhizomatic and affective process. The methodology is based on philosophical hermeneutics, phenomenology, and the concept of the rhizome developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. The research incorporates Michel Foucault’s ideas on the discursive nature of power and Umberto Eco’s theory of the open work, which together enable a critique of representation as a form of ideological manipulation. A comparative analysis of classical and ontological paradigms of directing is employed. The scientific novelty lies in the introduction of the concept of ontological directing as a process in which meaning arises not through the transmission of an author’s idea but through the shared experiential event between performer and spectator, aimed at generating performative experience. Conclusions. In the classical paradigm, theatre functions as a system of representations subordinated to plot structure and authorial discourse. Ontological directing, by contrast, unfolds within the dimension of being, where actor and spectator co-create the event in the moment of affective exchange. It overcomes the fractal–rhizomatic inversion, restoring the theatre’s original ritual essence as a site of transformation.