35th Anniversary of “Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present”
“Performance has been considered as a way of bringing to life the many formal and conceptual ideas on which the making of art is based. Live gestures have constantly been used as a weapon against the conventions of established art”
– RoseLee Goldberg
35th Anniversary of “Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present”
A collection of international covers from Brazil, Italy, France, Spain and Croatia.
Richard Maxwell: in Conversation with Marc Arthur
Photo by Michael Schlemming
Richard Maxwell is a New York City-based playwright and director who has been making plays with his company New York City Players since 1999. For five consecutive days he staged an open rehearsal with his company on the fourth floor of the Whitney Museum as part of the 2012 Whitney Biennial. Following these rehearsals, Maxwell and Performa’s Marc Arthur met up to talk about his process and his experience staging theater within the context of a museum.
A preview of the Portuguese re-issue.
From our publisher’s site:
“A ARTE DA PERFORMANCE atravessa a história da performance no Ocidente desde os seus primórdios, com Rei Ubu, de Alfred Jarry, e os futuristas italianos, até às obras contemporâneas do artista norte-americano Matthew Barney. Publicado pela primeira vez em 1979, este livro tem sido objecto de sucessivas edições (constantemente actualizadas pela autora) e é hoje um clássico dos estudos de performance, tendo-se tornado uma cartografia indispensável a todos aqueles que investigam e desejam compreender os caminhos da cultura contemporânea.
Esta 2.ª edição portuguesa inclui um novo capítulo dedicado à primeira década do séc. XXI. Nele, a autora aborda o impacto global do 11 de Setembro e analisa o trabalho de performers de vários pontos do mundo, como, por exemplo, a jugoslava Marina Abramovic, a iraniana Shirin Neshat, o chinês Zhang Huan ou a sul-africana Nandipha Mntambo.”
Japanese advertisement, with original cover art by Luigi Ontani.
“But the lovely thing is that performance breaks down all the categories one easily falls into.”
- RoseLee Goldberg
Saturday, May 19th, marked the 35th anniversary of RoseLee Goldberg’s Performance: Live Art 1909 to the Present. In celebration, we’ve shared the book’s very first review in the May 1979 issue of The New York Times. Check it out and keep watch for more rare reviews, photos and cover editions all this week!
Nathaniel Mellor’s Giantbum, part of Performa Radio
As part of Performa Radio presented during Performa 11 at WNYC’s Greenspace, artist Nathaniel Mellors presented the radio play Giantbum. A group of medieval travelers trapped in a giant’s lower intestines, Giantbum was performed by the Brooklyn Youth Company.
Christian Marclay, Screen Play. Part of Performa 05.
