Like no other artform, performance art provides a unique space for (re-)negotiating the boundaries of the body – both in its physical as well as socio-cultural dimension. Artists such as Paul McCarthy, Carolee Schneeman, Gina Pane or Oleg Kulik have tested and tampered with the body, creating abject, thought-provoking works that hold, however, much larger implications: These transgressive acts establish the body as political tool which allows us to consider social and cultural standards and narratives. This course offers participants a careful introduction to the concept of transgression in performance art. Through relevant theory around abjection and disgust, case studies, optional practical exercises, feedback rounds and discussion, participants are guided to go beyond the surface and uncover the mechanisms underlying transgressive practices as a potential strategy for their own personal practice. They will be introduced to examples of explicit transgressions around the body and moral behaviour but also consider implicit and poetic forms such as they appear in durational works or works negotiating cultural or philosophical concepts.  This course is not about shock or alienation but, on the contrary, about understanding the political force inherent in negotiating mental and physical boundaries, be it one’s own or one’s audience’s. Therefore, ethical considerations, care for oneself and the audience, and mutual respect are core elements of the course.

Syllabus

“Jovanovic is truly an artist of the twenty-first century. She can no longer call one country home, after living in Europe, the Middle East and North America. Her practice moves effortlessly between performance, sculpture, video and installation. She is interested in the legacy of feminism, but she also has deep admiration for her male forbears. Are these contradictory stances? They should not be. For identity today is a shifting and transforming process, rather than a fixed state. We have learned from the achievements as well as the mistakes of earlier feminist thought—prescribing what is a liberated feminism from what is not is a futile process. What is more enlightening is to understand that the post-feminist condition allows for a personal quantification of identity, one that is not forced or assigned. This is what our feminist predecessors fought for so bitterly—for our generation to have freedom to make our own choices about our bodies, our art, our lives.” Dr. Kathy Battista – Marta Jovanovic: Performing the Self (2013)

Anja is the founder of ECC Performance Art. Originally trained as a visual artist, she holds an MA in Art Pedagogy, Art History and Philosophy and a PhD in Contemporary Art History from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. Anja has researched and curated performance art for almost a decade and worked with institutes such as Munich’s Haus der Kunst, the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles and PerformanceHUB in Belgrade. She is passionate about exploring the many facets of performance art and the various ways in which it engages with our cultural, social, and political landscape.