Hardship Art: Pain and Performance Art, 1990 to the present

那些以艰苦、极端、痛苦和伤害为荣的艺术作品和表演，有时可能会因为偏离了某种审美极限而显得难以忍受、毫无根据或难以理解。我建议开展一系列以90后艰苦艺术为主题的研究性活动。这些活动将包括两个方面：首先，完成独家创作出版物的打字稿（根据合同）;以及在伦敦和洛杉矶的公众参与活动。一些活动将在为期一个月的研究期间作为AHRC访问教授在加州大学，滨江举行。该项目的一个定义性假设认为，“艰难艺术”是一组重要的当代趋势，在极端的表现。虽然主要艺术家的作品在视觉艺术和表演的国家和国际编程电路上不可否认，但他们的理论化和历史化受到限制。“艰难艺术”一词在20世纪80年代作为一个尝试性的批评新词提出，使用历史短暂而流动，不太受欢迎。随后的研究历史化的工作之前或前后的第一次临时理论化。该项目的一个出发点是承认“艰难艺术”是研究行为艺术、现场艺术、戏剧和视觉艺术的术语，并阐述了新的批评方法，以应对过度或“极端”的表现。"首选的考验：《苦难艺术与苦难的表现》（专著）构建了当代表演的历史和相关文献，涉及痛苦、创伤和苦难的生产和表现。我反对缺乏对艰苦艺术和相关实践的持续研究，认为这些作品需要重新配置我们对政治和美学的假设。案例研究包括罗恩阿塞，弗兰科B，雪莉玫瑰和已故的鲍勃弗拉纳根，里克卡斯特罗和基拉奥莱利。这些艺术家为专业观众所熟悉，但可能不太为艺术和戏剧的普通观众所熟知。因此，我通过对更多知名艺术家的新的近距离阅读来了解他们的艺术实践，包括最常被引用和大量展出的艺术家，包括玛丽娜·阿布拉莫维奇，维托·阿孔西，克里斯·伯顿，罗伯特·梅普尔索普，奥兰和吉娜·阿布拉莫维奇。引入新兴的或边缘的实践是一种修正主义的策略，目的是在现有的表演和视觉文化的文化历史中插入混乱的补充。导言和七章的长度将各约10，000字;预计字数为86，000字（包括序言和参考书目）。通过初步研究和广泛的批判性分析，我将表明这些艺术家和其他艺术家为表演和视觉文化的文化政治提供了新的视角。它们激发了对机构的意识形态功能的新方法：艺术，戏剧，批判，立法和学术。《首选的考验》表明，我们可能会在与艺术和表演的相遇中寻找一个人困惑的咬伤、退缩和鬼脸--尽管更欢乐的形式有时可能会提供安慰。体育活动的补充，延伸和通知对专著的书面研究。因此，该项目涉及一系列参与和访问的关键艺术家在伦敦和洛杉矶，在非高等教育机构，包括：泰特现代美术馆，当代艺术研究所，和/或INIVA（伦敦）;和卡尔弗艺术中心和人力资源（河滨/洛杉矶）。伦敦场馆的代表已暂时确认他们愿意讨论拟议活动的规划;加州的场馆已得到确认。

Works of art and performance that privilege hardship, extremity, pain and wounding may sometimes seem unbearable, unwarranted, or unintelligible, for straying too far beyond a certain aesthetic limit. I propose to undertake a series of research-based activities on the theme of hardship art after 1990. These activities will include two strands: firstly, the completion of the typescript for a sole-authored publication (under contract); and public engagement activities in London and Los Angeles. Some events will take place during a period of research as AHRC Visiting Professor at University of California, Riverside, lasting one month. A defining assumption of the project considers 'hardship art' as a set of important contemporary trends in the performance of extremity. While the works of key artists have been undeniable fixtures on the national and international programming circuits in visual art and performance, their theorisation and historicisation has been limited. The term 'hardship art' was put forward in the 1980s as a tentative critical neologism, with a short and peripatetic history of usage, falling out of favour for less specific umbrella terms. Subsequent studies have historicised the work that came before or around the time of its first provisional theorisation. A starting point for the project involves an acknowledgement of 'hardship art' as a terminology for studying performance art, live art, theatre and visual art, and the elaboration of new critical methods to engages with performance of excess or 'extremity'. "The Preferred Ordeal: 'Hardship Art' and the Performance of Extremity" (the monograph) constructs a history of contemporary performances and related documents that involve the production and representation of pain, wounds, and hardship. I counter the absence of sustained study of hardship art and related practices by arguing that such works demand a reconfiguration of our assumptions about politics and aesthetics. Case studies include Ron Athey, Franko B, Sheree Rose and the late bob Flanagan, Rick Castro, and Kira O'Reilly. These artists are familiar to specialised audiences, but perhaps less well-known to general audiences of art and theatre. I therefore contextualise their art practices through new close readings of more established artists including the most-cited and vastly exhibited artists including Marina Abramovic, Vito Acconci, Chris Burden, Robert Mapplethorpe, ORLAN, and Gina Pane. Introducing emerging or marginal practices is a revisionist strategy to insert disorganizing supplements into the existing cultural histories of performance and visual culture. The length of the introduction and seven chapters will be around 10,000 words each; the projected word count is 86,000 words (including prelims and bibliography). Through primary research and extensive critical analysis, I will show that these artists and others enable new perspectives on the cultural politics of performance and visual culture. They provoke new approaches to the ideological function of institutions: artistic, theatrical, critical, legislative and academic. "The Preferred Ordeal" suggests that we might search for the bite, the flinch, and the grimace of one's confusion in the encounter with art and performance - despite the consolations that more convivial forms might sometimes offer. The PE activities complement, extend and inform the written research towards the monograph. As such, the project involves a series of engaging and accessible critical dialogues with key artists in London and Los Angeles, at non-HE institutions including: Tate Modern, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and/or INIVA (London); and Culver Arts Center and Human Resources (Riverside/Los Angeles). Representatives of the venues in London have provisionally confirmed their willingness to discuss programming the proposed events; the venues in California are confirmed.