Picturing, Pledges and Other Scripted Acts: Performance (In) Art

Contemporary Theatre Review, 2019

When I use the term ‘political’ related to performance art, I intend to set forth a space of possible, civil negotiation for and among artists and audience to analyse and further debate on how to overcome and transform schemes, rules, conventions and barriers, socially and culturally. Curatorial text published in the post event catalogue of the second edition of the Live art exhibition project Venice International Performance Art Week "Ritual Body-Political Body" (2014) conceived and curated by VestAndPage.

2017

My premise in this essay is that performance art has a vocabulary and exists in sets of contexts. Just as poetry or painting have a common set of expressive features, techniques and contexts which are of course in a state of flux, developing and changing, often in response to innovation or external influences from human culture. I set myself the task of proposing some of the elements that make performance art what it is today. From this systemization I propose a distinction between spectacle and ritual within performance art as a means of developing the art form further.

Art Inqiuiry, 2018

The relationship between participatory art and performance is complex. On the one hand, their affinity is recognized, because in both cases we are dealing with emphasizing the role of action, but on the other, this action is understood differently. If the first aspect is taken into account, in museum or gallery press releases the manifestations of participatory art are referred to as "performances"-sometimes accompanied by an adjective. The aim of the article is to take a closer look at this issue. The discussion begins by highlighting the fact that happenings (especially European) from the 1960s are more often considered as a reference point for participatory art than performance art. Claire Bishop points to the conscious socio-political criticism of the consumer society that appears in happenings. The author of the article argues that the structure of these activities may also be an argument. When discussing the rules of public participation in happenings and performance art, she cites Erika Fischer-Lichte's views that in the latter case a "feedback loop" should be created between the performer and the audience. Such a loop is not formed in the case of happenings and cannot be shaped in participatory art, where the artist is only one of the people participating in the action. The article examines examples of characteristic works based on the principle of participation: Rirkit Tiravanija, Tania Bruguera and Paweł Althamer. In none of them did the artist occupy a distinguished position, she/he did not affect the way the participants behaved, and she/he only created an opportunity for a community. In the first case, its formation was completely free, in the second-there were forms of pressure release from it, in the third-there was encouragement. Nowhere, however, did the artist define the rules of action, did not determine the stake, did not set goals. At the same time, while making the participants the creators of the course of the action, the question "What for?" remains important in participatory art, which lends it a political character.

2012

first published in catalogue of FUTURE OF IMAGINATION 8, Singapore, 2012

Leonardo, 2009

Transactions publishes short refereed papers. It provides a fast track to publishing key new results, ideas and developments in practice. This format is particularly valuable to young researchers and, in particular, Ph.D. students in the later part of their studies. Practicing artists are encouraged to report on new work and new concepts through Transactions. Papers are solicited matching the stated aims and scope of Leonardo, but restricted to two pages of published material. A fast referee process is employed in which the result is restricted to "accept" or "reject." The announcement of results or developments in a Transactions paper will not exclude that work from subsequent publication in a full Leonardo paper. However, any such submission will be considered by Leonardo in the normal way, as a new paper. Papers should be submitted electronically in final camera ready form at <http:// www.leonardo-transactions.com>, where formatting instructions and a template may be found. MIT Press is now able to include authors' multi-media files linked to published Leonardo articles. As with other sections of Leonardo, from now on, once a paper has been accepted in Transactions, authors will be offered the opportunity to provide such supplementary material. Associated with Transactions is an open electronic database of new work, Research Announcements. This will be a moderated web site that makes submitted Transactions papers available, with the author's agreement, from the date of receipt by the editor. Other announcements of research results and new practice may also be included. Transactions makes calls for papers in specific areas. These announcements are not exclusive, so no relevant topic will be excluded if the submission is of sufficient quality. The current call is for contributions that address one of the following two areas: • The use of scientific evaluation methods within art practice. • Artists' reports on their recent work that include reflection on practice.

2016

The 1970s saw the emergence of the performative turn in many areas of the humanities. Although its most important representatives emphasized that it did include visual arts, specific examples were usually limited to action art phenomena, bordering on performance art, painting, or sculpture. This article is an attempt to demonstrate that the performative approach to art can be traced back to the avant-garde movement of the first half of the twentieth century. Moreover, Paul Klee’s concept of painting discussed here shifts the performative aspect from the artist&#39;s activity to the elements of the image, interpreted from the point of view of their interactions. The article examines the theoretical and pedagogical writings by Klee (both published during his lifetime and posthumously), considered as the basis for the interpretation of his paintings. The artist assumed that the pictorial elements are bound by the principle of motion – a line is a trace left by a moving point, while a p...

To look at Performance art privileging an anthropoetic approach means also to focus on what is the actual evidence contained in the term ‘performance art’. Instead of hazarding poignant definitions that, thus seductive, as a pure product of the mind, in many cases they end to be just sentences and definitions per se, to continue considering this practice ‘open’ as much as possible, as all art ought to be, is what counts the most. As a matter of fact, definitions are always perilous somehow, as they may confine and devaluate in a square grid a practice (here specifically the practice of Performance art), which instead is in constant evolution and permutation, often enigmatic, which today is clearly contaminated by interdisciplinary modes, multiplicity of strategies, tactics, and a large variety of techniques.

Bodies that Matter Again: Transformative Potentialities of Shape Shifting Corporealities in Contemporary Performing Arts, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Despite the many acts of denial and resistance embodied in the phrase "death of the avant-garde," interest in experimental, innovative, and politically radical performance continues to animate theatre and performance studies. For all their attacks upon tradition and critical institutions, the historical and subsequent avant-gardes remain critical touchstones for continued research in the disciplines of theatre, performance studies, film and cinema studies, media study, art history, visual studies, dance, music, and nearly every area of the performing arts. "Avant-Gardes in Performance" features exciting new scholarship on radical and avant-garde performance. By engaging with the charged term "avant-garde," we consider performance practices and events that are formally avant-garde, as defined by experimentation and breaks with traditional structures, practices, and content; historically avant-garde, defined within the global aesthetic movements of the early twentieth century, including modernism and its many global aftermaths; and politically radical, defined by identification with extreme political movements on the right and left alike. The series brings together close attention to a wide range of innovative performances with critical analyses that challenge conventional academic practices.