“Performance art is almost invariably centered on the artist’s body. The genre has achieved notoriety because of its challenges to physical endurance and to culturally acceptable behavior.”

-Coco Fusco, The Bodies that Were Not Ours

In this course, we will learn about the experimental and philosophical roots of performance art while developing as critical artists who can interpret performances that entwine bodily experience and "liveness." In addition to screening performances made by contemporary performance artists across the globe, the readings and lectures for this course focus on key ideas in black feminist philosophy, aesthetic theory, and queer of color critique.