“Dubious of performance art? Break into a cold sweat when you realize it’s about to begin? There’s a reason. Here we present you with a brief history of performance art and attempt to sway you to its potential charms. Let us know if you buy it.”

This is an abridged version. “In the classic understanding of the medium, performance art is the act of doing. It is not representing, not recounting, not re-enacting, but simply doing. It is live and it is real. It is direct action. It is not about rehearsing a text or recreating a narrative, but rather it is an experiment with a portion of one’s life. It is not about entertainment, but about the desire to learn. Ideally, performance artists are always generating new challenges for themselves, never repeating an action. Performance is driven by curiosity, and the quest is discovery, transformation, knowledge.”

Full, unabridged paper is here.

“Semiotics of the Kitchen adopts the form of a parodic cooking demonstration in which, Rosler states, ‘An anti-Julia Child replaces the domesticated “meaning” of tools with a lexicon of rage and frustration.’ In this performance-based work, a static camera is focused on a woman in a kitchen. On a counter before her are a variety of utensils, each of which she picks up, names and proceeds to demonstrate, but with gestures that depart from the normal uses of the tool. In an ironic grammatology of sound and gesture, the woman and her implements enter and transgress the familiar system of everyday kitchen meanings—the securely understood signs of domestic industry and food production erupt into anger and violence. In this alphabet of kitchen implements, states Rosler, ‘when the woman speaks, she names her own oppression.’”

Includes the following documented performances:

• Fall 1, 1970 (Los Angeles)
• Fall II, 1970 (Amsterdam)
• I'm Too Sad To Tell You, 1971
• Broken Fall, 1971 (Geometric) (West Kapelle, Holland)
• Broken Fall, 1971 (Organic) (Amsterdamse Bos, Holland)
• Nightfall, 1971

“A lively street scene in the London borough of Brixton in the mid-1980s: people hurry along the busy streets carrying full shopping bags as they pass shabby shops and stalls. Amid all this is a young woman dressed in black walks barefoot along the dingy sidewalk. Tied to her ankles is a pair of black Dr. Martens boots, which she drags behind her, step by step. Very few people notice the young woman; some stop in amazement, shaking their heads or making fun of her display. The action, in fact, is a performance by Mona Hatoum, which the artist staged as part of an exhibition project at the Brixton Art Gallery and which she documented on video. A working-class, residential area in south London, Brixton is characterized by its multicultural population. In the 1980s, there was racist police violence against its Black residents, which led to a riot. In her performance, Mona Hatoum refers to these political events: the Dr. Martens, which she dragged through the neighborhood’s streets, were traditionally worn by the British police. Like a dark shadow, the boots seem to follow the barefoot artist, who seems naked and vulnerable. The black, lace-up Dr. Martens boots were not only part of police officers’ uniforms but were also worn by punks and skinheads. In the context of this performance, the shoes embody a system of control, violence, and oppression against which the individual is defenseless. In her video film Roadworks, Hatoum has condensed the 30-minute plus eponymous performance into a 6’45” cinematic collage that primarily focuses on the audience’s reaction.”

Mexico City, Mexico, 1997