The French conceptual artist Sophie Calle, whose projects are often led by her ‘rules of the game’ (a set of predetermined instructions), suggests that abiding by rules is ‘restful [and] a way of not to have to think – just be trapped in a game and follow it.’ Rule structures, directives and instructions restrain the artist’s choice and potentially bring something unforeseen and unpredictable to the creative process. The focus of this course is the critical and practical consideration of these creative constraints as we examine the practice of using task-led activities as a means to conceive and compose performance. Weekly discussions and practical experiments are informed by selected critical reading and examples of case study artists. Each participant will be invited and guided to make weekly performance responses to the material in their own time, and these responses will be uploaded to the ECC Performance Art Workroom, a virtual classroom where they are accessible to the course participants and discussed in class. Participants will gain a critically and creatively informed understanding of the practical philosophies that underpin task-based performance art. 

Syllabus