3 Performance Histories

My presentation will focus on artists who have multi-media practices that feature performance as a vital component. The various forms of media in their works, including the body, become vehicles for communication. Other vehicles such as film, photography, and performance begin to mediate or translate the meaning of the performance. Simultaneously, such mediums have the ability to document or extend the life of the work beyond the performance. Furthermore, the spontaneous elements of the performance are preserved, and in some instances, the artist is able to continue to manipulate the work beyond the performance, extending the event of the performance into a creative process.

I am interested in looking at the histories of performers artists who are balancing elements of performance and the performance’s preservation simultaneously. Performance and the respective medias become inextricably attached. The means of Mediation or documentation informs the performance, and the performance informs the means of mediation.