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The Ecology of the Performance Art Process

Fragmentation, Union, Reconfiguration

Angela Viora

$305

Hardback

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English
Routledge
25 February 2025
This book offers a new, dynamic and ecological perspective to analyse the process of performance art, namely, what occurs during the unfolding of a piece, exploring the essence of its happening through the forces at play. The author’s aim is to provide a deeper understanding of performance art, which the existing scholarship acknowledges as an art form that actively engages with the world.

Much work has been done on the transformative effects of performance art on the artists and the audiences, and its impact on society over time. The author takes this perspective further by asking, how does this transformation happen? Little work exists on exploring the forces and dynamics occurring while a performance is developing: neither before nor after, but during it. This is the first and main gap that this book fills, given the importance of process and processuality as the characterising features of this art form. By filling this gap, this book offers a new way to understand performances and their impact in the world and over time, as well as providing practitioners with tools for performing and designing their works starting from the process rather than focusing on the outcomes. This book studies the matrix of the performance art process by conceiving it as an ecosystem, in which all the elements at play, animate and inanimate, are agentic and intertwine in relationships of mutual influence and exchange.

This book will be useful for scholars and practitioners of performance art and performance studies, practice‑as‑research (PaR), visual culture, art history and philosophy, especially phenomenology.

The author thanks Monash University (Arts) and the Australasian Centre for Italian Studies (ACIS) for the financial support in making this publication possible.
By:  
Imprint:   Routledge
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 234mm,  Width: 156mm, 
Weight:   485g
ISBN:   9781032684109
ISBN 10:   1032684100
Pages:   160
Publication Date:  
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Further / Higher Education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Introduction. 1. Performance Art 2. Space 3. Time and Duration 4. Body 5. The Performer-Audience Relationship 6. Documentation, Mediation and Re-performance. Conclusions – Performance Art: an offer

Angela Viora is an Italian artist, educator and scholar living in Naarm, on the unceded land of the Kulin Nations (Melbourne, AUS), where she lectures in European Languages‑Italian Studies at Monash University. Through a practice‑as‑research approach, Angela works at the nexus between performance studies and Italian and migration studies focusing on socially engaged art and education innovation. Angela has presented her work internationally, including at CO.AS.IT Museo Italiano (AUS), Daegu Art Factory (SK), Performance Studies International Conference, the 12th Istanbul Biennial (TK) and the MAXXI Museum in Rome (IT). She publishes on performance art, artivism, documentation and audience reception and education.

Reviews for The Ecology of the Performance Art Process: Fragmentation, Union, Reconfiguration

“In The Ecology of the Performance Art Process, Dr Angela Viora presents a sophisticated and timely proposition creating innovative ways to engage with performance art and its impact in the world over time. Viora engineers an artistic context – Ecosystem where artistic process exists on a framework of constant evolution, encouraging reflection on process over product, and importantly, where in the artist scholar can observe performance process:‘immanency’, which occur together (‘togetherness’) and in doing so encourages unpredictably and alternatively (‘alternation’). By addressing the nature of Performance Art, Viora asks a series of questions resulting in an accessible structure for the reader to identify and understand the ways in which performance art, as a practice happening in the place-world, generates new meaning for process, embodiment and performance. This book is particularly relevant to scholars, students and artists.” -Dr Sarah Black-Frizell, Senior Lecturer in Dance, Liverpool Hope University (UK) “Angela Viora has left no stone unturned utilizing, bridging and unifying experiential and theoretical research that has created a unique contribution to the field of performance art. With rigorous analysis, through both performance art practice and applied philosophic thinking, she explores the energetic exchange in performance, emphasizing the relationship between performer, audience, and spatial-temporal dynamics. Moving beyond the traditional focus on the body, Viora introduces the concept of performance ecology, a term that captures the interconnectedness of space, site, time, and performance action as a process.Her practice-led research presents a nuanced methodology, enabling layered analyses of performance that incorporate relational dynamics rather than centring solely on its effects. Viora’s findings are original and offer new tools for performance art practice and critical analysis. The work transcends disciplinary boundaries, providing valuable insights applicable to the broader domain of performance art. This research is a substantial and excellent addition to the field.” -Dr Jill Orr, Performance Artist & Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Federation University (AUS)


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