The history of the arts has been the discovery and formulation of a repertory of objects on which to lavish attention. Over the last century this paradigm shifted to include non object-based artworks that are performative, often blurring the boundaries of medium and traditional notions of where art lives. While performance belongs within the emerging discourse of ‘post-medium’, the production of object-based work necessitates it. For instance, a sculpture begins with a sculpting of ideas and a physical enactment. In this sense, performance is also a ‘pre-medium’, and its active exploration creates new ways to engage our varied practices, thereby deepening our relationship to process.

This studio-based course will facilitate the active exploration of performance both as a creative medium and a vehicle for investigating your own practice. We will study concepts such as physical theater, experimental persona, vocal sketching, video performance, choreography, immersive theater, slapstick, digital and rule-based performance, and relational aesthetics. Each week we will engage in discussion of critical essays and films relevant to performance and ‘post-medium’ artists and theories, both contemporary and historical.

Simultaneously, there will be weekly studio exercises that promote free experimentation in performance and creating art. These exercises will involve many forms of production, while paying special attention to performative impetus, action, and consequence thereof. During our time, we will also investigate performance as an integration of sculptor with sculpture.

We will discuss authors and artists such as Tino Sehgal, Pina Bausch, Erving Goffman, Anne Bogart, Nicolas Bourriaud, George Brecht, Jacques Lecoq, James Luna, Pierre Huyghe, Bruce Naumann, the Fluxus movement, Marina Abramovi, Guy Ben Ner, Josef Nadj, Jacques Tati, Yves Klein, Ana Mendieta, Bas Jan Ader, Ryan Trecartin, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, Buster Keaton, Yvonne Rainer, Merce Cunningham, and others.