Claire Elizabeth
Barratt – MFA 1 – MCP503 – Intro - February 15 2015
“The Process and Praxis of Constructing the Self
as Medium”
a practical pedagogy for the practice of
Performance Art
INTRODUCTION
Based
on the axiom that the body is the primary medium of performance art, my
objective is to develop my methods of training, preparation and execution into
a structure that can be integrated into a pedagogical curriculum for the
practice of Performance Art.
Why
a pedagogy?
Part
of the rite of passage when transitioning from student into a professional
career often includes assuming the role of “teacher” for the first time. And as
a young professional performing artist with a background of good solid
traditional British dance, music and theatre certifications, and having just
moved to the USA, I found myself in the position of being entrusted with groups
of students in a myriad of creative teaching situations. I was teaching dance
composition, dance improvisation, movement theatre, voice and movement for
actors and other similar facets of creative work for all ages and levels.
And
it was here in the classroom that I began to articulate a distinctive type of
creative voice. Sometimes it was a
profoundly unpredictable voice! Sometimes concepts, ideas and imagery emerged
from my mouth that I didn’t remember ever having consciously thought before.
And as students responded to these ideas and I saw them manifest, I would then
see how to guide and to construct upon what I saw. I never dared to question or
to second-guess any of this process, perhaps for fear it might all fall apart
if I had to examine it too closely and the flow was broken.
Throughout
my career path I have, on the most part, continued on this trajectory, although
I have honed and systematized to a certain extent.
My
current research is to dare to introduce critical examination into my process.
To place my work in context with other body-based performance methods and
pedagogies and to re-define my own practice.
Claire Elizabeth
Barratt – MFA 1 – MCP503 – Outline - February 15 2015
As my research
paper outline, I would like to present the syllabus goals and objectives for a
course I will be facilitating with art students at Warren Wilson College, NC as
my combined studio and research project this semester.
“THE
ARTIST IS PRESENT / Constructing The Self As Medium”
AN
INTRODUCTION TO PERFORMANCE ART
Eight-week
introductory course on performance art
Two
hours once a week - plus individual assignments
Comprehensive
Objectives and Outcomes
* For students to
understand the concepts that define Performance Art, its origins and its
distinctive role in contemporary art. As well as its potential for modes of
expression, statement, aesthetics and presentation that are uniquely
unpredictable, challenging, provocative and exciting.
* For students
not to feel alienated by esoteric performance, but to be enabled to develop
their own critical voice with which to comment on their experiences.
* For students to
be enabled to confidently develop Self as performer/medium, creator/author with
freedom from self-conscious inhibitions.
* For students to
develop their own distinctive creative voice with which to pursue their work.
Specific
Goals and Objectives
Definition,
History & Context
* To research and
analyze definitions of performance art – with the understanding that this is an
evolving art form to be continuously re-defined.
* To introduce
key historic movements in performance art, as well as individual artists and
groups throughout the twentieth century.
And to regard the
political, social and philosophical issues surrounding the creation of
performance art in each era.
* To look at
recent work in contemporary performance art, discuss how it fits into historic
context, how it is now developing due to current influences and to contemplate
its future.
Physical
Preparation
* To introduce
and explore methods of preparing the body as a versatile medium for art.
* To engage in
relationship with fundamental concepts of self, body, time, space, gravity,
surface, form, body sound and motion.
* To establish a
routine of basic exercises in which to develop these principles as a regular
practice.
Creative
Response, Play & Interaction
* To utilize
aspects of physical preparation in creative response and interaction.
* To engage in
relationship with “other” in response to such entities as: sound, image, text,
environment, object, color, smell, taste, texture, concept, narrative,
technology, person and identity.
* To discover and
develop the potential of Self as a viable means of artistic communication.
Assignments
& New Work
* To apply
physical and creative tools explored in the class towards the development of
original new work.
* To establish
Self as “author” or “creator” of artistic work.
* To foster a
decision making process of creative critical thinking.
* To present
original new work in a performance setting as a culmination of the project and
manifestation of the work as art piece.
* To receive
feedback and reflection on the work produced.
Claire
Elizabeth Barratt – MFA 1 – MCP503 – Bibliography - February 15 2015
Bibliography
(annotated)
Artaud, Antonin. The
Theatre And Its Double. New York: Grove, 1958. Print.
A collection of essays
written in the 1920s and 30s by the French actor and philosopher Antonin
Artaud. A radical and revolutionary commentary on the role of the theatre and
its relationship to “real life”. Influential as a philosophical tool through
which to examine the role of contemporary performance.
Boal, Augusto. Theatre
Of The Oppressed. New York: TCG, 1985. Print.
Augusto Boal’s own
writings on his theatrical method, pedagogy and philosophy. He initiates the
reader into the context of his work historically as well as his social and
political principles of theatre as activism in the public sphere. An insight
into communism in Latin culture. A resource for pedagogical methods of
developing performance.
Brecht, Bertolt, and John
Willett. Brecht on Theatre; the Development of an Aesthetic. New York:
Hill and Wang, 1964. Print.
A collection of essays
spanning a thirty-year, war time period by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht. He
delivers observations on the current state of theatre, as well as his own
theories and methods of production. A voice that has shaped contemporary
thought in performance.
Carr, C. On
Edge: Performance at the End of the Twentieth Century. Hanover NH:
Wesleyan UP, 1993. Print.
Cynthia Carr writes from
her perspective as a downtown New York journalist during a relatively recent
time of great progression and progressiveness in the arts. The book includes a
host of key contributing artists. A “hands-on” description, a voice from the
“front lines”.
Dixon, Michael Bigelow,
and Joel A. Smith. Anne Bogart: Viewpoints. Lyme, NH: Smith and Kraus, 1995.
Print.
A collection of writings
about Anne Bogart, American theatre director, founding director of SITI (with
Tadashi Suzuki) and developer of the Viewpoints method (adapted from
choreographer Mary Overlie.) An inspiring glimpse into the process of a great
performance craftsperson.
Goldberg, RoseLee. Performance
Art: From Futurism to the Present. Third ed. New York: Thames &
Hudson, 2011. Print.
Contemporary American
writer and curator of live art, RoseeLee Goldberg sets out a clear,
comprehensive time-line of the history of performance art. An extremely
informative study guide.
Goldberg, RoseLee. Performance:
Live Art since 1960. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998. Print.
A sequel to From Futurism to the Present, continuing
the time-line of performance art into the twenty-first century.
Goldberg, RoseLee, and
Defne Avas. Performa. N.p.: n.p. 2007. Print.
A reference catalogue book
for the 2007 Performa event curated by Goldberg. It features images and
descriptions plus artist information and interviews from the show.
Gómez-Peña, Guillermo, and
Roberto Sifuentes. Exercises for Rebel Artists: Radical Performance Pedagogy.
London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
The founding directors of
La Pocha Nostra clearly guide the reader through their performance pedagogy.
They describe their workshops and state their own political, social and
aesthetic agendas while still encouraging the student to find her own unique voice
within its structure. A great tool for broadening one’s scope on the
possibilities of performance pedagogy.
Huxley, Michael, and Noel
Witts. The Twentieth-century Performance Reader. London: Routledge,
2002. Print.
An anthology of writings
by, about and interviews with performance practitioners and artists of many
varying backgrounds. It includes artists from Marina Abramovich and Laurie
Anderson to Oskar Schlemmer and Marinetti. A diverse coverage, offering
insights through a variety of lenses.
Jones, Amelia. Body
Art/performing the Subject. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1998. Print.
American writer, curator
and teacher Amelia Jones offers a postmodern view of body art – of art made
with the body. She discusses artists working with the body from the 1960s
through the 90s. A philosophical tool for the contemplation of “the body” as
subjective medium for art.
Kelin, Daniel A, and
Kathryn Dawson. The Reflexive Teaching Artist: Collected Wisdom from the Drama/Theatre
Field. N.p.: Intellect, 2014. Print.
The authors offer a series
of complex overlapping concepts in the fields of performance practice and
pedagogy. An information source on ways of approaching the duality of artist
and educator.
Koteen, David, and Nancy
Stark. Smith. Caught Falling: The Confluence of Contact Improvisation, Nancy Stark
Smith, and Other Moving Ideas. Northampton, MA: Distributed by Contact
Editions, 2008. Print.
American choreographer
Nancy Stark-Smith discusses her “Underscore” method of movement improvisation,
as well as stories and anecdotes from her life and work. An inspirational tool
for methods of approaching the body in motion.
Kurth, Peter. Isadora,
a Sensational Life. London: Little, Brown, 2002. Print.
A biography of the life of
Isadora Duncan. Heralded as the “mother” of modern dance, she re-defined
possibilities of movement as a natural response to the body’s impulses and
elements of nature. This book exposes her life as a revolutionary.
Nelson, Robin. Practice
as Research in the Arts: Principles, Protocols, Pedagogies, Resistances. N.p.: Palgrave MacMillan, 2013.
Print.
Robin Nelson offers
practical guidance on the multi-faceted potentials for artistic practice,
research and pedagogy within a reflexive context. It encourages synergetic
growth for the artist / educator / practitioner / researcher.
Phelan, Peggy. Unmarked:
The Politics of Performance. London: Routledge, 1993. Print.
Peggy Phelan is an
American writer considered as an authority on subjects of performance and
feminism. Both of these subjects are the topic for discussion here, within the
context of what is not visible. Recommended as a “must read” for anyone
investigating the politics of performance.
Schechner, Richard. Performance
Studies: An Introduction. Third ed. New York: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Richard Schechner’s
comprehensive textbook for students and educators of Performance Studies. It is
an introduction into the world of performance in all of its potential contexts
– artistically and anthropologically. It itemizes and clarifies each separate topic
within the broad spectrum of what performance is.
Shepard, Simon. Theatre,
Body and Pleasure. London: Routledge, 2005. Print.
British scholar Simon
Shepard presents a historical overview of the body in the context of
performance theory. It examines the meanings that the body holds as an
artistic, political and sensual entity. This book provides a specific slant of
insight into cultural and aesthetic modes of regarding the body.
Stucky, Nathan, and
Cynthia Wimmer. Teaching Performance Studies. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP,
2002. Print.
The editors present a
collection of essays by teaching practitioners of performance. A diverse
overview that provides insight into the unique experiences of professionals in
this field.
Turner, Victor W. The
Anthropology of Performance. New York: PAJ Publications, 1986. Print.
British anthropologist
Victor Turner presents his global experiences and research in the field of
performance studies. He examines the cultural performance play of roles and
identity in the context of community and ritual. This book provides in-depth
insight into the world of symbolic and interpretive anthropology through the
role of performance.
Vergine, Lea. Body
Art and Performance: The Body as Language. Milano: Skira, 2000. Print.
Italian art critic Lea
Vergine discusses the concept of the body as language in performance and art.
She presents key contemporary performance artists working within this context.
This is a book reinforcing the idea of the medium being the message – when the
medium is the body.
