Performance Art; Developing a Visual Lex

What happens to a body stilled in space, when it takes a shape and holds it? How does its relationship to public space change? How is its transformation attenuated when the body is in formation with other bodies, a breathing still life of people and props? This performance art course will use the question of a body’s stillness as a platform to create interdisciplinary projects that exist between dance, sculpture, collaborative movement, and performance art. Through core readings and case study presentations, we will discuss unique possibilities of representation and challenges this form enables, and the prominent role it has been taking within the visual arts in recent years. Students will engage with a variety of aesthetic strategies and formal techniques such as movement workshops, sensory exercises, video, wearable sculptures, collaboration, scores, and group meditation. Studio work will focus on concrete intersections between the body and the object, and case studies chosen to encourage students to think of movement as a form of resistance, and to consider the political implication of collaborative work that unfolds over time. Performativity in the context of this class is widely defined, and no prior experience is required.