Platform for discussion009
What are the genealogies of performance art in North Africa and the Middle East?
A few notes on the difference between performance art and mayonnaise:
+ Everyone, everyday, is performing, being this then that – presence as oscillation – performance art exposes the instability of being.
+ There are many ways to experience a performance: sensuous, intellectual and intuitive, through feeling.
+ A performance can have multiple lives across many mediums. In the end it exists only in the scene of memory (in all the ways a body remembers).
+ Witnessing a performance automatically implicates the spectator as an active participant in the performance.
+ A performance should suggest, imaginatively negotiate, but make no claims of reconciliation.
+ The true nature of a performance piece is bound up with the ideological stand or world outlook of its creator – not just their intent but also the manifestations of power tied inextricably to their work.
+ Supposing we succeeded in giving a perfectly accurate and complete genealogy of performance art which goes into detail, and thus a detailed repetition in concepts of what it expresses, this would also be an accurate and complete explanation of the world in concepts.
What is a platform?
A platform is a space for speaking in public. It is an opportunity to express ideas and thoughts. It also suggests the formal declaration of a stance or position on any given subject.
Unique to Ibraaz is a 'platform', a question put to writers, thinkers and artists about an issue relevant to the MENA region. This platform is sent to respondents both within and beyond the MENA region and contributions will be archived every 12 months.