Toward a theory of performance art: An investigation of its sites.
Item
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Title
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Toward a theory of performance art: An investigation of its sites.
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Identifier
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AAI9304712
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identifier
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9304712
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Creator
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O'Dell, Kathy Rosalyn.
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Contributor
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Advisers: Rosalind Krauss | Linda Nochlin
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Date
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1992
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Art History | Theater | Psychology, General
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Abstract
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This dissertation concerns performance art of the early 1970s that involved acts of masochism. The practice of attacking one's own body--whether within the arena of art, religion, or everyday life--is not unique to this period. Yet, the fact that there was a burgeoning of such work, by a number of different artists, in a number of different places, particularly in the waning years of a crisis like the Vietnam War, needs to be reckoned with.;Chapter One serves as a table of contents of issues I feel such artists were questioning: the function of metaphor; alienation and psychoanalysis; the "art-equals-life" debate of the 1960s; artists' contractlike agreements with their audiences.;In Chapter Two, I construct the theoretical model used in the upcoming analysis of performances. The model is built on my observation that a "masochistic contract" operates in these works, the terminology borrowed from Gilles Deleuze's critical reading of the namesake of masochism, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Psychoanalytic theories related to masochism--by Theodor Reik, Didier Anzieu, Jacques Lacan--are surveyed and ultimately interrelated to the material history and theory of contract itself.;Chapter Three investigates a selection of performances, among which are the most extreme examples of masochistic performances ever produced--works by Chris Burden, Vito Acconci, Gina Pane, Ulay/Abramovic. The performances are examined for the way the artists used their bodies as "limit-texts.".;In Chapter Four I discuss my conclusions and summarize my theory of performance art, the premise of which is that performance draws its power from metaphor, the symbolic register, the field of representation. I also summarize what the performances just discussed revealed about cultural and political consciousness during the latter years of the Vietnam War.;The last chapter consists of an annotated bibliography of noteworthy materials written on performance art since the early 1970s. The subtext of this venture is to assess methodologies employed throughout the dissertation. I close with remarks on the usefulness of what I call a "psycholegalistic" methodology in the investigation of performance art's sites, both corporeal and institutional.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
