Performance as Experiment

workshop with Marilyn Arsem

at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

May, 2023

This workshop focuses on performance art as a site of learning.  Performances are often created to communicate something that the artist already knows, but this is about making work in which the end result is not fully known. The performance is, instead, an experiment, where something is discovered through the process of doing the work.  It is about observing and experiencing change and transformation.  

We will approach this question of learning through the use of everyday materials and actions. Materials have a life of their own. What might happen when you really engage with them? What can you learn through working with them?  What might they ask of you?  

In this work you might choose to learn something about yourself, or about the world around you, or even about an audience. The challenge is to select materials and design an action that allows you to effectively examine the question that you are asking.  In some cases, your action may be very literal, while in others it might be more metaphorical.

Unrehearsed, this work is witnessed as it is being made.  What is the role of the witnesses in the work?  What does their presence allow you to do?  Is there a way to involve them directly in the inquiry?  How might they help you?

During the workshop, you will design and execute several different experiments with the goal of learning something new.  You may utilize different performance strategies including ones that engage the viewer. Guided writing exercises will further develop your practice of constructing and analyzing your own work.  

After the weekend sessions, participants will create a final action/experiment and document it in whatever way is appropriate. As you design your actions, individual sessions with Arsem are encouraged, to discuss your plans. Documentation will be uploaded to a class website to be reviewed by all participants before our final discussion at dinner.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Saturday and sunday, May 6th and 7th

1 pm to 5 pm

• Meet in person, as a group, at the UofA, room location TBA

monday, May 8th — Saturday, May 20th

• Develop and execute individual projects, documenting them as appropriate.  

• Meet about your project with Arsem (in person or via zoom TBD), sometime in the first week.  

• Upload documentation to the web at the latest by Saturday May 20th..

Saturday, May 20th — Sunday, May 21st

• View the documentation of all the projects of the workshop participants.

Monday, May 22nd

• Debrief dinner, TBA

• Discussion of final projects, and general discussion about the workshop.