The analysis of performance art a guide to its theory and practice

• Main Author: Howell, Anthony 1945- (Author)
• Format: Unknown
• Language: English
• Published: Australia Harwood Academic Pub 1999
• Series: Contemporary theatre studies v. 32
• Subjects: Performance art > Philosophy
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.
• Physical Description: xv, 254 pages illustrations 23 cm
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index
• ISBN: 9057550857

This finely illustrated book offers a simple yet comprehensive 'grammar' of a new discipline. Performance Art first became popular in the fifties when artists began creating 'happenings'. Since then the artist as a performer has challenged many of the accepted rules of the theatre and radically altered our notion of what constitutes visual art. This is the first publication to outline the essential characteristics of the field and to put forward a method for teaching the subject as a discipline distinct from dance, drama, painting or sculpture. Taking the theory of primary and secondary colours as his model, Anthony Howell posits three primaries of action and shows how these may be mixed to obtain a secondary range of actions. Based on a taught course, the system is designed for practical use in the studio and is also entertaining to explore. Examples are cited from leading performance groups and practitioners such as Bobbie Baker, Orlan, Stelarc, Annie Sprinkle, Robert Wilson, Goat Island, and Station House Opera.