Syllabus

Class Projects/Discussion
The class requires active class participation. Please let me know if you will miss a class. There will be a series of additional video screenings and special events outside of class time. Students will be expected to attend at least 5 of these events. They will be responsible for a class presentation, to be scheduled during the last three classes, and for a final written paper (15 pages). Students will also be responsible for weekly postings on the online forum.

Books to Obtain (available at NYU bookstore and on reserve at Bobst library)
Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed, TCG, 1985.
Diamela Eltit, E. Luminata, trans. Ronald Christ, Lumen Books, 1997.
Coco Fusco, Corpus Delecti, Routledge, 2000.
Bill Talen, What Should I do if Reverend Billy is in my Store?, The New Press, 2003.
—What Would Jesus Buy?, Public Affairs, 2006.
Diana Taylor, Roselyn Costantino, Holy Terrors: Latin American Women Perform, Duke U.P., 2003.

Schedule of Topics and Readings

Class 1 • September 5
Introduction: the Role of Art in Society
Plato and Aristotle
READINGS:N/A

Class 2 • September 12
Performance and the State I
READINGS:
Eric Hobsbawm, Forward to Art and Power [PDF]
Leon Trotsky, “Art and Revolution” [PDF]
Bertolt Brecht, “Short Organum for the Theatre” [PDF]
Walter Benjamin, “Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction” [PDF]
Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed [NYU bookstore]

Class 3 • September 19
Performance and the State II
READINGS:
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “Enactments of Power” [PDF]
Baz Kershaw, “Curiosity or Contempt: On Spectacle, the Human, and Activism” [PDF]
Guillermo Gómez-Peña, “Disclaimer” [PDF]

Public Event • September 21
(see column to the right for event details)

Class 4 • September 26
Art and Dictatorship (Chile)
CADA: Performance under Pinochet
READINGS:
Hemispheric Institute web cuaderno: Repasos
Diamela Eltit, Lumpérica (E. Luminata in English) [NYU bookstore]
Robert Neustadt, “Diamela Eltit: Performing Action in Dictatorial Chile” (in Holy Terrors) [NYU bookstore]
Suggested Readings: Pedro Lemebel, "Manifiesto" [PDF]

Public Event • September 28
(see column to the right for event details)

Class 5 • October 3
Art and Dictatorship (Chile)
READINGS:
Nelly Richard, Margins and Institutions (short version in Corpus Delecti, 203-18)
English version: “Margins_1” [PDF] and “Margins_2” [PDF]
Spanish version: Márgenes [PDF ESP]
Lotty Rosenfeld, “Operations” (short version in Corpus Delecti, 218-220) [NYU bookstore]
Optional: for Spanish readers and visuals, Lotty Rosenfeld: “Desacato” [PDF]
Suggested Readings: Francisco Copello "Fotografía" part 1 [PDF]
Francisco Copello "Fotografía" part 2 [PDF]

Class 6 and Public Event • October 10
Art and Dictatorship
Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis: video in class
Gonzalo Rabanal, Ángeles negros: video in class
READINGS:
Jean Franco, “The Mares of the Apocalypse” [PDF]
Francisco Casas, Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis (in Corpus Delecti, 221-222) [NYU bookstore]
(for public event 6-8pm see column to the right for details)

Class 7 • October 17
Performance and Human Rights
READINGS:
Hemispheric Institute web cuaderno: H.I.J.O.S.
Diana Taylor, “DNA of performance” [PDF]

Class 8 • October 24
The Politics of Space
Mapa Teatro, Colombia
READINGS:
Mapa Teatro, Proyecto C’ùndua [PDF]
Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, “Spatial Practices” [PDF]
Yalen & Cohen, "Coexistence and the Arts" [PDF]
Idelber Avelar, "The Untimely Present" [PDF]

Class 9 • October 31
Witnesses as Activism: Yuyachkani
READINGS:
Diana Taylor, “Staging Traumatic Memory: Yuyachkani” (in The Archive and the Repertoire) [pdf forthcoming]
Leslie Damasceno, “The Gestural Act of Reclaiming Utopia” (in Holy Terrors) [NYU bookstore]

Public Event • November 6
(see column to the right for event details)

Class 10 • November 7
Globalization, Surveillance, and On-Line Performance
The Surveillance Camera Players, Video
READINGS:

surveillance [surveillance PDF] surveillance

Bill Talen, What Would Jesus Buy? [NYU bookstore]
Bill Talen, What Should I do if Reverend Billy is in my Store? [NYU bookstore]
Jill Lane, “Reverend Billy: Preaching, protest, and Postindustrial Flânerie" [PDF]
Jill Lane, “Digital Zapatistas" [PDF]
Coco Fusco, “On-Line Simulations/Real-Life Politics: Ricardo Dominguez, Electronic Disturbance Theatre" [PDF]

Public Events • November 8-11
(see column to the right for event details)

Class 11 • November 14
Democracy as “Event”
Jesusa Rodríguez and the 2006 Elections
"Superbarrio" [PDF]

NO CLASS • November 21

Class 12 • November 29
Class Projects/Discussion

Class 13 • December 5
Class Projects/Discussion

Class 14 • December 12
Class Projects/Discussion