Screendance Portraiture: Truth, Transaction, and Seriality in 52 Portraits

Abstract

The article examines the hybrid genre of screendance portraiture through the example of 52 Portraits by Jonathan Burrows and collaborators (2016). It unpacks three concepts that are foundational to visual art portraiture and suggests how each might apply to screendance portraits: the truth seeking impulse of portraiture; the portrait transaction, and the relationship between likeness, type and seriality. The article shows how 52 Portraits both relies on and departs from the productive counterpoints found within the portraiture tradition. In so doing, the article builds toward an emergent framework for understanding how screendance portraits function.