DRAMA 365 A: Diverse Voices in Performance

Performance Art

Spring 2025

Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:30 - 3:20pm

Professor Jasmine Mahmoud

COURSE DESCRIPTION

What is performance art? How does performance art as a “presentational” mode of performance differ from theater as a “representational” mode? How does “performance art” animate our understanding of the body and conceptual art, as well as of history, culture, identity, difference, and humanity? What power comes from creating performance that attends to the meanings that bodies create in space? 

This course investigates Performance Art through these questions, with a particular focus on minoritarian performance in dialogue with race, gender, indigeneity, sexuality, ability, and other forms of identity. We study performance art across histories and themes of Fluxus, HIV/AIDS Performance, Scores, Food, Endurance, Rest, Risk, Civics, Disability, and Protest. We research performance art artists including Marina Abramovich, Ron Athey, Rebecca Belmore, Coco Fusco, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Karen Finley, Tehching Hsieh, Ana Mendieta, Okwui Opokwasili, Yoko Ono, Adrian Piper, and William PopeL. We will attend and write about two performance art events: Once Upon a Time in a Place called NOWhere by keyes and the nogooddoers at 12th Avenue Arts presented by Velocity Dance Center and Super Nothing by Miguel Gutierrez at On the Boards. We will also create works performance art in class and via assignments. In sum, we will study, discuss, write about, and create performance art! No performance experience required.