Working with fragments: A performance art's archive

Abstract This paper investigates the potential of the disparate and unconventional aspects of what can be considered an archive, as a means by which to respond to a past performance. According to French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard, commentary on art works seeks to link onto the gesture or trace of the event and to provoke further art works, as commentary. It is this affective response to fragments from a past performance which motivates this project. In 2013-14, I worked with students from two art institutions, one in Poland and one in the UK, to respond to a performance by British artist Stuart Brisley, which took place in Warsaw in 1975. Photographs from the performance are readily accessible on-line but there remains no archival record of the performance at the event’s location. It was, therefore, to investigate this performance by other means that students were asked to work with fragments from the past. Keywords: performance art; archive; affect; Lyotard; Stuart Brisley

http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jwcp.7.3.557_1