Spring 2023

Performance

Listed in: Architectural Studies, as ARCH-360  |  European Studies, as EUST-360  |  Film and Media Studies, as FAMS-316  |  German, as GERM-360

Faculty

Heidi Gilpin (Section 01)

Description

(Offered as GERM 360, ARCH 360, EUST 360 and FAMS 316) What is performance? What constitutes an event? How can we address a phenomenon that has disappeared the moment we apprehend it? How does memory operate in our critical perception of an event? How does a body make meaning? These are a few of the questions we will explore in this course, as we discuss critical, theoretical, and compositional approaches in a broad range of multidisciplinary performance phenomena emerging from European—primarily German—culture in the twentieth century. We will focus on issues of performativity, composition, conceptualization, dramaturgy, identity construction, representation, race, space, gender, and dynamism. Readings of performance theory, performance studies, gender studies, and critical/cultural studies, as well as literary, philosophical, and architectural texts, will accompany close examination of performance material. Students will develop performative projects in various media (video, performance, text, online) and deliver a number of critical oral and written presentations on various aspects of the course material and their own projects. Performance material will be experienced live when possible, and in text, video, audio, digital media and online form, drawn from selected works of Dada and Surrealism, Bauhaus, German Expressionism, the Theater of the Absurd, Tanztheater, and Contemporary Theater, Performance, Dance, Opera, New Media, and Performance Art. A number of films, including Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, Oskar Schlemmer’s Das Triadische Ballett, Fernand Léger’s Ballet Mécanique, and Kurt Jooss’ Der Grüne Tisch, will also be screened. Conducted in English, with German majors required to do a substantial portion of the reading in German.

Limited to 15 students. Enrollment requires attendance at first class meeting. Spring semester. Professor Gilpin.

How to handle overenrollment: Priority to German, European Studies, Architectural Studies, and Film and Media Studies majors and those interested in performance and electronic art.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: An emphasis on written work, readings, visual analysis, independent research, oral presentations, and group work, with possible field trips. Students with documented disabilities who will require accommodations in this course should be in consultation with Accessibility Services and reach out to the professor as soon as possible to ensure that accommodations can be made in a timely manner.

ARCH 360 - LEC

Section 01
F 12:00 PM - 2:45 PM CONV 209

Offerings

2023-24: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2014, Fall 2017, Fall 2020, Spring 2023