Theories and Practices of Performance

Code:

TPF01

Acronym:

TPF

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
CNAEF	Fine Arts

Instance: 2022/2023 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Fine Arts Department
Course/CS Responsible:	Fine Arts

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
AP	13	Plano de estudos de LAP_publicaçao em DR de 24/05/2021	3	-	6	60	162
			4

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

Create original performative art projects, based on a theoretical and practical research.

Experiment, find and defend practical solutions.

Know the main directions of the history of performance, main themes and important authors.

Analyze critically specific questions tied to the performative artists practice, to its presentation, documentation and relations to its audiences.

Communicate doubts, argue, discuss ideas and projects – be its own or of others.

Discuss and share different points of view, suggest readings, experience and possible solutions in an artistic and intellectual sharing atmosphere.

Learning outcomes and competences

Conceive, develop, produce and present an original performative art project, solo or in group, with or without resorting to technology.

Be able to respond with a performance to situations and exercises with constraints, of space, time, financial, technological or other.

 

Discuss the theoretical, ethical, practical and technical implications of the student’s performances, and that of others.

 

Adequately communicate and document a performative oeuvre or event.

Create original performative art projects, based on a theoretical and practical research.

Experiment, find and defend practical solutions.

Know the main directions of the history of performance, main themes and important authors.

Analyze critically specific questions tied to the performative artists practice, to its presentation, documentation and relations to its audiences.

Communicate doubts, argue, discuss ideas and projects – be its own or of others.

Discuss and share different points of view, suggest readings, experience and possible solutions in an artistic and intellectual sharing atmosphere.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

This curricular unit doesn't demand any previous specific knowledge.

Program

The curricular unit concentrates on the performative practice as an autonomous contemporary artistic practice. In order to do so, the exercise of the practice is based on the knowledge of the historical tradition and important themes that have characterized the Performance Art or Live Art through, throughout the times.

The curricular unit is mainly laboratorial, with exercises of different length, with the aim of diverse learning outcomes in different areas of performance art.

The subject is organized around the following themes: the body; bodies and communities, objects and materials, performativity and the image and sound technologies; absence of the body; performance specialization and space; inside and outside spaces; the site-specific work; time and duration; audience(s), documentation and archive. Some history(ies) of performance and topics of discussion.

Mandatory literature

Roselee Goldberg; A^Arte da performance. ISBN: 978-989-95565-0-8
Ana Mendieta; Ana Mendieta. ISBN: 84-453-1756-3
Helena Almeida; Helena Almeida. ISBN: 972-739-047-1
Jones Amelia; Body Art: Performing the Subject, University of Minnesota Press, 1998

Complementary Bibliography

Allan Kaprow; Essays on the blurring of art and life. ISBN: 0-520-20562-6
Roselee Goldberg; Performances. ISBN: 2-87811-168-0
Claire Bishop; Participation. ISBN: 978-0-85488-147-5
Schneider Rebecca; The explicit body in performance, Routledge, 1997
Of the Presence of the Body: Essays on dance and Performance ; Lepecki André (ed.), Wesleyan University Press, 2004
Schechner Richard; Performance Studies: An Introduction, Routledge, 2003
Schimmel Paul ; Out of actions, between performance and the object, 1949-1979, Thames and Hudson, 1998
O’Doherty Brian; Inside the white cube: the ideology of the gallery space, University of California Press, 1986
Bishop Claire; Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, Verso, 2012
Bishop Claire; Installation Art. A Critical History, Tate Publishing, 2005
Ingold Tim; Being alive: essays on movement, knowledge and description, Routledge, 2011
Phelan Peggy; Unmarked. The politics of performance, Routledge, 1996
Rudolf Frieling; The^art of participation. ISBN: 978-0-500-23858-5
Fischer-Lichte Erika; The Routledge Introduction to Theatre and Performance Studies, Routledge, 2014
Heathfield Adrian ; Live. Art and Performance, Tate Publishing, 2004
Schneider Rebecca; Performing Remains: Art and War in Times of Theatrical Reenactment, Routledge, 2011

Teaching methods and learning activities

The classes are organized in 4 hour’ units, and are both theoretical and practical.

The theoretical moments are of an expository manner followed by group discussions.

The practical moments are triggered by thematic exercises with specific constraints, aiming to foster different questions and difficulties of the performative practice. Practical exercises will be alternating in duration, between exercises demanding a quick response, and of medium duration.

Fostering active critical discussion and peer help, all results will be discussed and critically commented by the group.

Depending on the exercises and taking into account the students' manifest interests, joint readings, analysis of authors and works will be suggested, as well as debates on specific themes, which will be encouraged.

Joint field trips are organized to visit spaces, attend performances, conferences, and shows, depending on the available supply and in close coordination with partner entities and organizers.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	20,00
Trabalho prático ou de projeto	80,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de projeto	0,00
Estudo autónomo	0,00
Frequência das aulas	0,00
Trabalho laboratorial	0,00
Total:	0,00

Eligibility for exams

This curricular unit doesn’t have a final exam.

Calculation formula of final grade

The calculation of the final grade will have into account participation/presence (20%) and practical art works developed by the student (80%)