A concept that blurs the divisions between the live and mediated. In dialogue with Peggy Phelan’s argument that the “ontology of performance” lies in its ephemerality, Philip Auslander contends that all live performance is mediated. Broadly, “the live” defines itself against the “mediated” [“the live” depends upon notions of the “mediated”] and, in turn, even the most live [read, visceral] performance is mediated [i.e. one can never have full and direct access to “the live”]. In regards to the voice, this concept is crucial to the fields of performance, popular music, and media studies. Liveness draws our attention to the various techniques of vocal performance, to the role of technologies in producing a voice, and to the politics of those required to perform “animated-ness.”

See also: Philip Auslander, Peggy Phelan, Simon Frith, José Esteban Muñoz