🔵 🔴 🟡 Course description

The course focuses on activism and the public sphere through contemporary examples of performance art, seen through the prism of contemporary and innovative methodologies, theories and literature from the fields of political philosophy, contemporary feminist thought and queer theory, with the aim of understanding the complexity of different performative methodological practices that can constitute acts of resistance and activism. The contemporary performative works presented are placed in relation to examples of live art from the history of performance art, dramaturgy, but also the performative culture of marginalized social groups. Particular emphasis is given to ethical issues, inclusion, visibility and decolonization. The teaching of the course seeks mutual feedback of theory and practice, aiming to intertwine the two in a single scheme that abolishes the dichotomy of theoretical thinking vs. physical practice. In addition to attending lectures, students are invited to participate in a physical/performance exercise workshop, present their work to their fellow students, carry out live actions, practice their critical thinking, receive and formulate critical comments, and undertake creative tasks during the semester that will compose a comprehensive portfolio with images, sketches, photographs, and texts.

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• They know basic concepts, examples and applications related to activism, the public sphere and performative practices, placing them in the respective historical context.
• They understand the ethical, social, ontological, ideological and aesthetic components of a living work related to activism in the public sphere.
• They use the knowledge and methodological tools they have acquired to compose written texts and carry out performative actions, within the context of the course but also in their own subsequent practice and research. 

🔵 🔴 🟡 Theory (1.5 hour) - Workshop (1.5 hour)

1. Introduction and brief presentation of the thematic units of the course.
2. Activism – hegemony – resistance: Terminology and methodological approaches.
3. Disturbances – interventions – ruptures – cuts in the public sphere.
4. Immobility – slowing down – mourning – fragility – vulnerability - horizontality – interdependence – care as forms of resistance.
5. Laboratory.
6. Presentation of events in the lesson.
7. Feedback – discussion.
8. Queer activism and performance - voguing as a performative practice of activism in the public sphere - clothing and dance as tools of activist action.
9. Political activism and symbols: appropriation, distortion, decolonization, and other methodological approaches.
10. Participatory/collective dramaturgy/performance in public space - Social Sculpture - Happening – Event – Fluxus.
11. Activism beyond the Anthropocene: climate change – energy crisis – migration issue – ecosystems – coexistence with non-human entities.
12. Presentation of events in public space.
13. Feedback – discussion – review – recap.

Review language: Greek

🔵 🔴 🟡 Evaluation method:

• Collective attendance in class. 10%
• Creative tasks during the semester. 10%
• Collective/participatory action in the middle of the semester. 20%
• Final project/portfolio. 30%
• Final collective/participatory action. 30%

• Face-to-face
• Use of ICT during teaching: use of PowerPoint, videos, and links from the internet during lectures by the teacher and during presentations by the students.
• Posting educational material, links, via the e-class electronic platform.
• Posting announcements and communicating with students via an electronic chat room in e-class.

https://eclass.uop.gr/courses/3770/

🔵 🔴 🟡 Course Textbooks [Eudoxus]

1. Butler, Judith (2022) The Power of Nonviolence, Athens: Alexandria. [Code Eudoxos: 122076219]
2. Stavrakakis, Yannis, and Kostis Stafilakis (2008) The Political in Contemporary Art,  Athens: Ekkremes. [Code Eudoxos: 77111869]
3. Avgitidou, Angeliki, Ed. (2021) Public Art Public Sphere, Thessaloniki: University Studio Press. [Code Eudoxos: 102075401]

Additional Greek-language bibliography

1. Carlson, M. (2014) Performance: A Critical Introduction , E. Raptou (ed.), Athens: Papazisis.
2. Daskalothanasis, Nikos (2004) The Artist as a Historical Subject from the 19th to the 20th Century , Athens: Agra Publications.
3. Loizidi, Niki (1992) The Rise and Crisis of Avant-Garde Ideology , Athens: Nefeli.
4. Chondrou, Danae (2006) Visual actions , Athens: Apopeira.

Additional foreign language Bibliography

1. Butler, Judith (2006) Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence, New York: Verso.
2. Caygill, Howard (2013) On Resistance: A Philosophy of Defiance , London: Bloomsbury Academic.
3. Cavarero, Andriana (2016) Inclinations: A Critique on Rectitude , Redwood City: Stanford University Press.
4. Golding, Johnny (1996) “Pariah Bodies,” In: Elizabeth Grosz and Elspeth Probyn, eds. Sexy Bodies the Strange Carnalities of Feminism, London: Routledge.
5. Haraway, Donna J. (2016) Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, Durham & London: Duke University Press.
6. Heathfield, Adrian, ed. (2004) Live: Art and Performance , London: Tate Publishing.
7. Jones, Amelia, and Tracey Warr (2000) The Artist's Body , London: PHAIDON.
8. Laclau, Ernesto, and Chantal Mouffe (1985/2001) Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Strategy, London & New York: Verso.
9. O'Reilly, Kira (2018) Untitled (Bodies) , Bristol & Chicago: Intellect, The University of Chicago Press / London: Live Art Development Agency.
10. Polgovsky Ezcurra, Mara (2019) Touched Bodies: The performative turn in Latin American Art , New Brunswick & London: Rutgers University Press.
11. Ramos, Afonso Dias and Tom Snow (2023), Documents in Contemporary Art: Activism , London: Whitechapel Gallery.
12. Rancière, Jacques (2000) Le Partage du Sensible: Esthétique et Politique . Paris: La Fabrique / Les Belles Lettres.
13. Sharpe, Christina (2016) In the Wake: On Blackness and Being . Durham and London: Duke University Press.