ART 254 - History of Body and Performance Art

This course introduces students to the history of body and performance art and will examine the trajectory of this interdisciplinary art form early 20th century avant-garde practices through contemporary period, examining how performance has become a vehicle to explore identities of gender, sexuality, race and issues of power. The course will address the work of the major artists and theorists of performance, including Antonin Artaud, Marcel Duchamp, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin, Guy Debord, Judith Butler, Peggy Phelan, Amelia Jones as well as artists such as Allan Kaprow, Marina Abramovic, Ana Mendieta, Adrian Piper, Yves Klein, Yoko Ono, Carolee Schneeman, Joseph Beuys, Coco Fusco, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Forced Entertainment, Wooster Group, Yvonne Rainer, Orlan, and Nick Cave. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)