Up to and Beyond my Limits:
Transgression in Performance Art

                                                                                                                             with Marta Jovanovic and Anja Foerschner


Course Description

Like no other artform, performance art provides a unique space for (re-)negotiating boundaries– both in their physical as well as mental manifestations. Transgressive practices have been famously employed by artists such as Paul McCarthy, Carolee Schneeman, Gina Pane or Oleg Kulik, who have tested and tampered with their bodily boundaries, creating thought-provoking works that hold, however, larger implications. They establish the body as political tool, which allows us to reconsider social and cultural standards and narratives. Beyond these explicit forms of transgression, however, there exist metaphorical and even poetic forms of transgression based on mental or notional concepts, which equally invite us to question personal assumptions, but also societal norms and power structures.  
This course offers participants a careful introduction to the concept of transgression as it appears in many forms and nuances in performance art. Through relevant theory, which allows us to approach and understand the meaning of transgression, case studies, practical exercises and assignments, feedback rounds and discussion, participants are guided to go beyond the surface and uncover the transformative power of transgression as a potential strategy for their own personal practice. They will be introduced to examples of explicit transgressions around the body and moral behavior but also consider implicit and poetic forms as, for example, silent resistance, duration, repetition, or stillness. In the context of our world as it is presently shaped by violence, angry political rhetoric and a climate of fear, this course is not about transgression as shock or alienation. It is 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

 

About Marta Javanovic

“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)

 

About Anja Foerschner

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. 
 


 

AVAILABILITY: Places still available
DURATION: November 3-24, 2025; Mondays 6-8PM CET
LOCATION: Online course
LANGUAGE: English
TUITION FEE: 175 € 
APPLICATION DEADLINE: October 30, 2025

                                                                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                                                                
 

 
 

Course Image Caption:  Marta Jovanovic, "Untitled (after Cut Piece by Yoko Ono), performance, 2014.