My dissertation analyzes the work of the artist group 3Nós3 (the name is a pun in Portuguese meaning "three knots/ we three"), who performed artistic actions in public space that they referred to as "urban interventions" on the streets of São Paulo from 1979 to 1982. These ranged from placing garbage bags over the heads of monumental sculptures to taping Xs across the doorways of art galleries along with signs reading "What is inside remains the same; what is outside expands." Within the context of the military regime that had ruled Brazil since 1964, the urban interventions targeted symbols of authority ranging from public sculpture to the art world establishment. My research focuses on one of the most noteworthy traits of the group's activities: their almost complete absence from the history of Brazilian art. In spite of the recent popularity on the international artistic circuit of contemporary Brazilian art with a performative edge (the artists Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark being the best examples of this type of work) the work of 3Nós3 has remained obscure, even within Brazil. The explanations for this lack of attention to 3Nós3 include the transitional political nature of the abertura period during which the interventions took place, the artists' own denial of traditional artistic circuits and involvement in youth subcultures, the ephemeral nature of the interventions themselves, and a lack of understanding of the reasons why the artists chose to work in public space, particularly in regard to the interventions' relationship with their audience. The goal of my dissertation is to argue for the inclusion of the interventions into the history of art without relying on arguments related to their quality, i.e. whether or not they constitute "good art." Rather, it is only through a detailed consideration of the specific cultural and political contexts in which the works occurred that they start to make sense. I conclude by examining the present-day conditions that could make the inclusion of 3Nós3 into larger international artistic movements such as street art and "the interventionists" (including Eduardo Srur and the Grupo Contra Filé, among others) possible. / text

An exhibition thesis from Xiao Han, who presents large photographs as ‘stills’ from a fictitious movie set in late 20th century China, after the suppression of the Tiananmen Square Protest and the inauguration of the one- Child policy. The artist plays multiple roles in sites that are specifically gendered, to expose the exceptional impact the population control laws had on women. Traumatized social and psychic perspectives emerge from the political turmoil, registering as uncanny absences and repressed delays.

During the interwar period in Iran and Egypt, local and regional manifestation of tajadod/al-jidida (modernity) as a “cultural identity crisis” created the nationalist image and practice of zan-e emrouzi-e shahri/al-mar’a al-jidida al-madani (the urban/secular “New Woman”). The dynamics of the process involved performance art, including the covert medium of journalism and the overt world of the performing arts of music, play, and cinema. The image of the “New Woman” as asl/al-asala (cultural authenticity) connected sonnat/al-sunna (tradition) with the global trends of modernism, linking pre-nineteenth century popular forms of performing arts to new genres, forms, and social experiences of the space of the performing arts. The subversive transnational character of performance art operated across borders to promote both the discourse of modern womanhood in-the-making among intellectuals, and the public practice of women’s presence among the masses. However, the trans-border effects of the medium were limited by local cultural and political ideologies of nationalism. The spectacle of women on the screen addressed national independence and the creation of a national film industry to resist the financial dominance of Europeans. In Iran, zan-e emrouzi-e shahri served the project of founding a modern nation-state, elevating of a culture of the city and urban development, and institutionalizing performing arts, mirroring the upholding of “male-guardianship.” In Egypt, in the absence of an authoritarian modern state and long-term experience of foreign occupations, al-mar’a al-jidida al-madani accompanied the traditional figure of bint al-balad (the countryside girl) to present modern advancements in film production with a traditional accent, to oppose European cultural values, to provide a tangible space for women’s multifaceted anti-colonial maneuvering, and to connect Egypt’s past history to its future. Performance art helped women to convey their cultural nationalism and a sense of imagined identity by letting them see and be seen by each other, create interactions between the artist and the audience, and emphasize music as the heart of a society’s culture and art. A culture of body performance, a female visual public sphere, and a feminine (and feminist) interpretation of cultural authenticity in performance art led women to claim the profession as a legitimate career.

Performing Resistance/ Negotiating Sovereignty: Indigenous Women’s Performance Art In Canada investigates the contemporary production of Indigenous performance and video art in Canada in terms of cultural continuance, survivance and resistance. Drawing on critical Indigenous methodology, which foregrounds the necessity of privileging multiple Indigenous systems of knowledge, it explores these themes through the lenses of storytelling, decolonization, activism, and agency. With specific reference to performances by Rebecca Belmore, Lori Blondeau, Cheryl L'Hirondelle, Skeena Reece and Dana Claxton, as well as others, it argues that Indigenous performance art should be understood in terms of i) its enduring relationship to activism and resistance ii) its ongoing use as a tool for interventions in colonially entrenched spaces, and iii) its longstanding role in maintaining self-determination and cultural sovereignty. / Thesis (Ph.D, Art History) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-30 09:07:41.999

In this thesis, I will explore the different notions of performance as a political tool and gender/sexuality as a performative act that forms identity, within lesbian and gay academic and activist rhetoric. I posit that the extensive, and often contradictory, use of "performance" within lesbian and gay discourse serves as a useful entry point to explore existing theoretical precepts of identity formation, and the processes of representation and signification. Through this exploration, effective theoretical and practical techniques can be developed to subvert the dominant discourses of normative (hetero)sexuality that continue to create a "reality" which is physically and psychically harmful to those who do not adhere to these discourses. / Lesbian and gay activists have used various performance techniques as political tools to de-stabilize notions of identity and the fixity of the representational process. Some lesbian and gay academics have developed a "queer" theoretical perspective that concurrently binds and privileges fluid concepts of representation, identity formation, and gender/sexuality performativity. In this thesis, I argue that the convergence of performance and performativity within the work of Annie Sprinkle yields an especially clear potential for the disruption of a signification process that consistently demonizes the sexual "Other."

In the contemporary art-historical vision, Mikhail Larionov is renowned as the author and the main figure in the polemical discourse of Neoprimitivism and the inventor of the Rayonism style. These aspects, although crucial to his career, are far from exhausting the artist’s legacy. During his most industrious period, from 1910 to 1915, he was equally, if not more, engaged in the development of new forms of art than in the practice of painting; in fact, the conventional cornerstone of the high art in the era of Modernism – a painting – lost its central position and receded to the status of the peripheral phenomenon in his artistic practice. When considering his position as a central figure in the events of the 1910-1915 in Russia, Larionov’s ambivalence as an artist implies hesitation about the picture of gestalt homogeneity of Modernist discourse (with a painting as the hierarchical apex of high art in the Modernist era) in Russia of the early decades of the twentieth century. While historical evaluation privileges the painting over the non-painting practice of the artist, there is sufficient evidence testifying to the need to consider them as equal and synergetic.

I proposed a multi-media, multi-genre project that combined visual art, creative nonfiction, poetry, and creative work. Formatted magazine-style, this work began with an invitation to a dinner that I hosted. I envisioned the dinner as a piece of performance art. That is, my guests were writers and artists, and responded to the experience of the dinner throughout the evening. In experimenting with art, words, food, and artists, I wanted to see both the process and the product, how they work by pulling out memory and emotion tied to food. Food and memory work this way. Food and art work this way. Words and art work this way. There are connections everywhere. French poet, playwright, and surrealist artist, Jacques Prevert said once that, "Taking a walk, making a movie, writing a poem...there is no difference." How right. Eating, painting, loving, writing—the beautiful things in life...there is no difference. / Department of English

The performance of my opera/art installation, Ariadne, on April 2 and 4, 1993, in Recital Hall, culminated a year of research, composition, production, and rehearsal upon the Ariadne Project, an interdisciplinary art collaboration. My project brought together the research, creative, and performance skills of many individuals throughout the university community and beyond. Designed as a companion paper to this composition and performance, this paper documents the inception, creation, production, and performance of the Ariadne Project. It also addresses the issues and sources dealt with and assessess the effectiveness of the product and the process. / Department of Art

In this dissertation two art works of two female artists, Cindy Sherman and Berni Searle, are analysed comparatively using a method developed in semiotics. The artworks of Sherman that are used in this dissertation forms part of her Untitled Film Stills series and the artworks of Searle that are discussed forms part of her Looking Back series. The artworks and artists are contextualised within the postmodernism and within the realm of performance art. The study focuses on and discusses the way in which these two artists depict identity in their artworks. In Sherman's artworks this identity is linked to a Western, white identity. In contrast with this, the identity that Searle depicts is linked to an African, coloured identity. The study is concluded by a comparative summary of the different identities Sherman and Searle represent in their artworks as well as the way in which they represent these identities. / Thesis (M.A. (History of Arts))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

In this dissertation two art works of two female artists, Cindy Sherman and Berni Searle, are analysed comparatively using a method developed in semiotics. The artworks of Sherman that are used in this dissertation forms part of her Untitled Film Stills series and the artworks of Searle that are discussed forms part of her Looking Back series. The artworks and artists are contextualised within the postmodernism and within the realm of performance art. The study focuses on and discusses the way in which these two artists depict identity in their artworks. In Sherman's artworks this identity is linked to a Western, white identity. In contrast with this, the identity that Searle depicts is linked to an African, coloured identity. The study is concluded by a comparative summary of the different identities Sherman and Searle represent in their artworks as well as the way in which they represent these identities. / Thesis (M.A. (History of Arts))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.