The main goal of the course is to explore the peculiarities of the genre, its perception, exhibition and documentation, as well as to create and present an individual performative work. Students will get acquainted with the history and theory of performance art, analyze the works of performance artists – classics and contemporary artists, and explore the issues of creating and exhibiting performance art in practice.

Course is designed for students with varying degrees of training, but mainly for those who are involved in artistic practice, theory and history of the genre, or who intend to get involved with the language of performance.

The course will be suitable for beginners and practicing artists who want to explore the principles of performance art in theory and practice. It will also be useful for curators, as well as for art historians, cultural studies scholars, cultural producers and managers, and employees of museums, galleries, and exhibition centers who would like to get into the specifics of this kind of art in order to be able to distinguish it from related types of art.

WHAT PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN AND WHAT THEY WILL LEARN

Think
Know the attitudes and history of performance art, the specifics and principles of world exhibitions and performance festivals
Understand how works in the performance art genre are created
Know the key performance artists and their concepts and works
Understanding the theoretical foundations of performance art as a genre and its specific perception

Do
Be able to understand the history and peculiarities of classical performance art, to use the basic principles of the genre, based on the basic elements of performance art in an artistic context: body, space, time and spectator
Get practical acquaintance with the language of performance
Gain skills in preparing, creating and exhibiting performative work
Gain experience in performing an individual and collective performance project

Act
Understand the process and how to address the range of challenges facing performance artists and curators, as well as performance studies researchers

CORE DISCIPLINES

Understanding the basics of performance art
What is performance art and how does the “classic” genre differ from contemporary practices? What are the phenomenon and tasks of the performance artist? What are the main problems of exhibiting art acts?

Peculiarities of perception
What are the peculiarities of the reception of performance art? Who are exhibitions made for? How has performance art changed the relationship between the viewer and the artwork?

Basics of historiography and typology
How did a genre of art not invented by anyone come into being and transform? How does existential art performance differ from everyday or carnival performance?

Designing .
Work on the final work of the course. This will be a comprehensive project done by the students themselves.