The author of the first academic study on performance in Russian language will speak of trying to define performance as a genre and the importance of its reception by various audiences.
Maria Antonyan’s Retseptsia performansa: Marina Abramovich prisutsvuyet is the first Russian-language fundamental study to discuss performance as a genre of contemporary art and a cultural phenomenon in a broader cultural context. As the starting point for the discussion, Antonyan chose the exhibition Marina Abramović. The Artist Is Present that was shown at Garage in 2011, shortly after it premiered at MoMA in New York. A major review of Abramović’s seminal performances, the show brought up many questions regarding the nature of the genre and the possibility of repeating or conserving unique lived experiences of performance within museum practice.
How can performance be defined today, when art in general is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary and the boundaries between genres are constantly reconsidered? Can we speak of “classical performance” and its canonical model? If performance is a lived experience that takes place here and now, what is the role of its reception by the audience—professional or broader—who also contribute to its understanding? Maria Antonyan will be discussing these and other questions with art critic at Garage Research Valery Ledenev.