Document Type
Syllabus
Publication Date
Fall 9-1-2024
Course Description
This course explores the captivating history of performance art. Since the early twentieth century, artists have turned to performance as an experimental mode of artistic production. They have used bodily movement, music and sound, costumes, and props to reimagine the forms, institutions, and audiences for art. What does it mean to “perform” art rather than to make an art object? We will take a transnational approach to this question, investigating how artists working in diverse contexts in Latin America, North America, East Asia, and Europe have used performance as an expressive and political form. For instance, we will analyze performance works made under dictatorial regimes in Brazil and Chile, amid the transnational feminist movement of the 1970s, and during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United States. Among other topics, we will consider debates around performance documentation, the ethics of audience participation, and the critical use of the body by artists of color and LGBTQIA+ and feminist artists.
Recommended Citation
Cowan, Sarah, "ARTH 281/HONR 300AD Histories of Performance Art Cowan Fall 2024" (2024). All Course Syllabi. 622, Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University.
https://scholarship.depauw.edu/records_syllabi/622
Student Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to: • Describe the look, sound, and feel of individual performance artworks using key concepts from the course and their own observations • Contextualize performance artworks in their social and historical settings, especially with respect to dynamics of power across race, gender, sexuality, and class • Reflect on their direct participation in performance art and connect those experiences to concepts from class • Synthesize and communicate ideas about performance in persuasive and vivid writing and speech