For decades have (performance) artists) drawn from absurdist strategies such as cycles and repetition, nonsensical language or imagery, humor and slapstick, or unconventional combinations of bodies and objects to comment on their socio-political context, unhinge conventions and rules, and disrupt the viewers’ sense of order and rationality. The focus of this course is a critical exploration of absurdity as a methodology and inspiration for performance making. We will cover the parents of absurdism including Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett, the Dadaists and Fluxus but the main focus will be on contemporary artists using their own bodies in performances, films and photographs. For example:  Francis Alys, Pilvi Takala and Mika Rottenberg. We will think about why artists use absurdity in their work and to what aim, with the intention to clarify the conceptual framework for our own work. Weekly themes will inform a mixture of reading/art viewing and guide you through a number of practical exercises to develop your own work in response. 
Contrary to Martin Esslin’s observation that “absurd is that which is devoid of purpose” this course invites its participants to discover what absurdism means to them in the context of their practice and how they can employ it for their own purpose. 
 

Syllabus