RESEARCH & PRACTICE

 

ECC Performance Art is building a Research and Practice platform dedicated to performance art. Contrary to the emphasis on finished ‘products’ that dominates the art world, ECC Performance Art recognizes the need for exchange, input, and constructive criticism throughout the creative process – be it in the development of a performance work, a research project, or a curatorial concept. With its ‘Research and Practice’ segment, we provide a platform for students, lecturers, and non-ECC-affiliated performance artists and scholars to share and develop their work-in-progress with a group of like-minded people and experts in the field.

ECC Performance Art invites in particular projects that investigate understudied aspects of the field such as marginalized practices and topics, underrepresented figures or regions, and other innovative interdisciplinary approaches to the field.

Are you interested in joining ECC Performance Art's Research and Practice?
Please email a short project description, contact email, and up to 3 illustrations to anja@ecc-performanceart.eu. The project description should contain the following: outline of your central idea and projected outcome as well as a sketch of where you find yourself in the project trajectory at the moment. We invite you to reflect on roadblocks and challenges you are encountering and what you would need from your peers to move on. Include concrete questions and needs you have at this moment in order to move on with your project, such as: suggestions for relevant theory or artists, feedback or exchange on the project, or invitations for collaborators. 

 

Projects

    
Performance Works: Documenting Feminist Performance Art
Research Project, Anja Foerschner

This research project investigates the preparation, documentation, and archiving strategies employed by feminist artists in their ephemeral work. Using case studies ranging from the 1960s to the present day, it examines how the time- and site-specific experience of performance art is translated into physical material with sustainability and assesses in how far the study of archival material influences art historical scholarship and understanding of a given work. In doing so, it considers the “value” and meaning of material traces as secondary resources as compared to the physical execution. The project also assesses how documenting strategies are changing in relation to new technologies and media and what the implications are for the concept of the “archive”.

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The Mermaid Project
Performance Series, Marta Jovanovic

The Mermaid, Siren or Rusalka is a mythological creature half woman/half fish, a curious symbol of beauty and femininity. The scope of THE MERMAID PROJECT in its various performative iterations is to dismantle that symbol in order to question the standards of female beauty, seduction patterns and concepts of fertility.

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Who Cares - Love is its own reward
Reproductive Labor in Performance Art
Thesis Research, Chantal Spapens

This thesis research critically explores and investigates the representation of reproductive labor in contemporary visual arts, focusing in particular on performance art from the 1960s to the present.
As a researcher in Fine Arts I am looking for opportunities for exchanging knowledge and potential interdisciplinary cross pollination and my goal is to establish a conversation
about this area of research.

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Subverting the Surrealist Paradigm - The Inner Worlds of Carol Heifetz Neiman
Research Project, Anja Foerschner


This research project is devoted to the understudied art of Carol Heifetz Neiman. Drawing from original research and interviews, it aims to uncover the works of Neiman, a feminist artist active in Los Angeles between 1960-90, who has worked in a wide variety of media ranging from traditional ones such as painting, drawings, etchings, or collage, to innovative, novel forms of expression at the time such as performance, color xerox or computer art.
The project will focus in particular on her subtle subversion of the male-dominated surrealist paradigm and highlight the political strategies she employed in creating her art.