There are no prerequisites for this course.

With artist Yuki Okumura as tutor, this course concerns performance not as a theatrical showcase staged for the spectator but as a series of actions or gestures that the artist carries out just for their own sake.

In the context of art history, ‘performance’ came out of ‘action painting’ (Harold Rosenberg, 1952), where the process of executing a painting was regarded as the work itself, with the resultant painting merely as its record—which then led to ‘happening’ (Allan Kaprow, 1958) and paved the way for the subsequent development in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Giving the most importance to the artist’s doing rather than what they produce or exhibit, this radical shift from artwork/object/result to artist/action/process has been a dominant mode in contemporary art up until today.

In this course, you are encouraged to apply this ‘performative turn’ to your own practice. Approaching your artistic concern from a different angle, you will develop a new body of work with performance as its main medium. We will also trace the genealogy of performativity in art history by examining various significant works as a source of information and inspiration for your experiment.

Your performance can take any form, but to begin with, it will be suggested to exploit the ‘conceptual’ procedure: you set simple instructions, follow them absolutely, and see what happens. In line with what ‘perform’ etymologically means—‘carry out what is demanded’ (per=completely / fornir=provide)—this is the basic method of performativity that helps you go beyond your own ego.

Most importantly, this course considers ‘performance’ as a highly private experience: it’s something you do purely by yourself and for yourself. Unlike theater (thea=seeing), performative actions or gestures do not have to be shown or communicated to others. Performance is a way of self-reflection rather than that of self-expression.

This course is ideal for you if you:

• Have developed a certain artistic practice based on your own concern (and need something fresh to move ahead).
• Are sometimes skeptical if the things you make are really your work: perhaps your action to make them or your gesture to contexualize them is the real work.
• Are interested in employing performance as a possible trigger to revise the form, method, or style of your work.
• Are troubled with the limitation of your inner creativity and want to open up your working process to things external to you.

Artistic Practice

Responding to a series of assignments focused on certain aspects of performativity, along with occasional physical and mental exercises (re-enacting historical pieces, writing artist statements, etc.) and individual experiments, you will develop a number of performance or performative works in consultation with the tutor, exploring and refining your own artistic concern.
At the end of each phase, you share your work with the class. It could be either performed live or presented by means of documentation (be it not only video or photography but also painting, sculpture, print, wearables, text, website, story-telling, memory-sharing, or anything).

Lectures and/or tutorials

Lectures by the tutor, each focusing on an art tendency related to performance, with occasional homework assignments. Possible subjects include: Action painting (Jackson Pollock, Harold Rosenberg); Happening (Allan Kaprow, John Cage, Hi-Red Center); Event (George Brecht, Yoko Ono); Task-dance (Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, Deborah Hay); Conceptual art (Douglas Huebler, Vito Acconci, On Kawara, Lee Lozano) - Video art (Bruce Nauman, Bas Jan Ader, Peter Campus); Parasitical practice (Andre Cadere, Rafael Ferrer); Lecture performance (Hito Steyerl, Walid Raad); Delegated performance (Tino Sehgal, Alexandra Pirici, Claire Bishop). With occasional lectures by guest artists on their own performative practices.

Photocopied or scanned pages of the text to be discussed in each lecture will be given in advance or on site. Images of the performative works discussed will be put on screen.

Permanent evaluation (attendance of the contact hours) + assignment evaluation (performance pieces and research homeworks).