Performance and the Moving Image

Dr. Gayle Austin

Performance Studies involves looking at a wide range of cultural behaviors that can be called "performance:" ritual, play, performance in everyday life, performance art, acting, and mediated performance, among others. Increasingly, other fields, such as sports, business, and literary criticism use the term "performative." Just what is performance? And what is the relationship between performance and the power structures of a culture?

In this seminar we will use the ideas of theorists such as Victor Turner, J.L. Austin, Erving Goffman, John Cage, Richard Schechner, Laura Mulvey, Judith Butler and other theorists as critical frames through which to look at a wide range of specific live and mediated performances. Particular emphasis will be placed on the intersection of performance with race, class, gender and sexuality. We will also interrogate the relationships among "theory" and "practice," "research" and "performative writing" and explore performance as both a methodology and a means of articulation for scholarly research.

The required textbooks are:
Richard Schechner, Performance Studies (PS on the schedule)
Colin Counsell and Laurie Wolf, eds, Performance Analysis (PA)
Michael Rush, New Media in Late 20th Century Art (NM)
Sally Banes, Subversive Expectations (SE)
Peggy Phelan and Jill Lane, eds, The Ends of Performance (EP)

Other "texts" for the course include:
required videos on reserve in the library
optional books on reserve in the library
weekly performance coverage in the New York Times and Village Voice
a variety of websites
two free gallery exhibits and one "theatre" performance (Room at Theatre Emory, $25)

The activities of the course contributing to a final grade fall into five equally-weighted areas:

1. Oral Presentation (20 minutes) and abstract for the class on one of the optional books in the library
2. Four short papers (2-3 pp), on viewed subjects, framed by the theories studied
3. Performative Presentation (20-30 minutes) and abstract for the class on your long paper topic
4. A long paper (15-20 pp) on an individual research project
5. Participation in class, including contributions to "current events" discussions

Information on course activities

1. Oral Presentation (20 minutes) and abstract for the class on one of the optional books in the library.
Each student will choose to read one of the twenty books on two-hour reserve in the library (those authors in bold on the schedule must all be selected before any of the others). At least one student in each class session will give copies of a 1-2 page content abstract of the selected book to the other members of the class, followed by an oral presentation on it (I recommend buying your own copy). The presentation should convey an overall sense of what the book is about, a brief evaluation of the author's ideas, the relationship between those ideas and other texts read/seen for the current class session, and several specific ideas in the book that could be useful for scholarly research, criticism, or generation of performance. Be aware of and optimize your performance for an instructional purpose.

2. Four short papers (2-3 pp), on viewed subjects, framed by the theories studied.
Your approach for each paper should be either ethnographic (descriptive) or critical (evaluative). I suggest the former method for #1 and #4 and the latter for #2 and #3. In each paper please frame your comments with one or more of the theories encountered in this course.
The subjects are:
#1 The openings of two related gallery shows of "sound art:" L'Object Sonore at Eyedrum (Jan. 18) and PulseField at the GSU gallery (Jan. 20). Information on both shows is on the websites that follow. If you cannot attend the two opening dates, discuss possible alternative dates with me as soon as possible. Due Jan. 27.
#2 One or two of the eleven videos on reserve in the library that you have viewed up to this class date.
Due Feb. 24.
#3 One of the four websites on New Media that you have viewed for class on this date. Due Mar. 10.
#4 Room at Theatre Emory (March 21-23 only). Information and websites follow. Due March 24.

3. Performative Presentation (20-30 minutes) and abstract for the class on your long paper topic.
The last four class meetings will be devoted to student presentations of the research projects they have conducted in order to write their long papers. At the beginning of each presentation the student will give copies of a 1-page abstract of the paper they are writing to the other members of the class. The presentation in class should reflect in some way what you have learned about performance during the course. Be aware of and optimize your performance for whatever purpose you choose – to entertain, to instruct, to persuade, or to do something else. This can be an occasion to try out a performative form of scholarly conference presentation.

4. A long paper (15-20 pp) on an individual research project.
This should be written as if for publication in a specific scholarly journal (in any field, named at the very top of the paper), following correct formatting for that journal. You should choose a subject of great interest to you and one that may contribute to your selection of a dissertation topic. The topic should consist of a specific subject (event or artifact) and a theory or combination of theories, drawn from Performance Studies, that you will use to frame your discussion of the subject. You may use any qualitative methodology you consider appropriate to the task.
The topic and at least tentative theoretical frame should be selected as soon as possible and submitted to me no later than Feb. 3. Please email me or make and appointment to see me if you want to discuss topic choice. I want to see three written stages of your progress on the paper: a prospectus on Feb. 17, a bibliography on March 17, and an outline on March 31. The paper itself is due at the last class meeting, April 28.

5. Participation in class, including contributions to "current events" discussions.
Since this is an advanced doctoral seminar, we will be using a question and answer/discussion format for the class meetings and will all be learning from each other. In order to maximize the time we have together you need to have read the required reading, viewed the other requirements, and if possible scanned the optional reading before each class. Come prepared with insights and questions you have as a result of doing the assignments.
At the very beginning of each class we will have a brief "Current Events" discussion. Before Monday, read over the Friday and Sunday issues of the N.Y. Times and that week's issue of the Village Voice (online or hard copy) and bring in one article that relates to some aspect of performance, as we are defining it in this course.

Websites

1/6-13
GSU library PS research page: http://www.library.gsu.edu/liaisons/thull/performancestudies.htm
theory.org in UK: http://www.theory.org.uk/
theory.org trading cards: http://www.theorycards.org.uk/

1/27
Eyedrum sound art show: http://theeaaa.org/lobjetsonore/
Eyedrum site with map: http://www.eyedrum.org/
GSU sound art show: http://cara.gsu.edu/pulsefield/
GSU galleries site with map: http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwart/Pages/artgallery/index.html
Women & Performance, #18, Staging Sound: http://www.echonyc.com/~women/Issue18/index.html

2/3
Women & Performance, #17, Sexuality & Cyberspace: http://www.echonyc.com/~women/Issue17/index.html

2/10
Body, Space and Technology, 1:1, on liminality: http://www.brunel.ac.uk/depts/pfa/bstjournal/1no1/journal.htm

3/10
Eyebeam, Moving Image Division: http://www.eyebeam.org/divisions/mimage_air.html
Janet Murray's website, at Georgia Tech: http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~murray/
Hamlet on the Holodeck resources: http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~murray/hoh/hoh.html
New Media Studies site in UK: http://www.newmediastudies.com/
New Media Centre, ICA in UK: http://www.newmediacentre.com/
NMC, ICA, links to digital art projects: http://www.newmediacentre.com/www_content/links_ica.html

3/24
SITI company, doing Room at Emory: http://www.siti.org/index_old.html
Arts at Emory, tickets and map: http://www.emory.edu/ARTS/

About the performance:

ROOM Created by the SITI Company (Saratoga International Theater Institute)
Directed by Anne Bogart
March 21 and 22 at 8 p.m. and March 23 at3 p.m., $25, Mary Gray Munroe Theater,
Dobbs University Center, 3rd Floor

Performers Up Close: Artistic Collaborators for Room March 22, follows 8 p.m. performance
Performers Up Close programs are free opportunities for students and the public to learn from leading artists through discussions, demonstrations, and workshop.