This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
This module will introduce students to the emergence and development of 'site specific' performance through the 20th Century and into the 21st Century, interrogating what has progressively become a generic label applied to a range of theatre/performance forms which embrace ‘site’ however tenuous this relationship might be. The module explores the context in which ‘site’ becomes the determining feature in the creation of artistic and theatrical works in the mid-20th Century, specifically considering the development of site/land art, installation art, celebratory community theatre and the subsequent influence of this work on the emergence of ‘site specific’ performance and current practice. The module will introduce students to a range of practitioners who explore the ‘site’ of performance from a number of perspectives, and the theoretical contexts in which these approaches might be considered.
Total contact hours: 72
Private study hours: 228
Total study hours: 300
Group Presentation (20%)
Practical Project (30%)
Written Submission (2,500 words) (30%)
Workshop Participation/ Process (20%).
Coult, T. & Kershaw, B. (1983) Engineers of the Imagination: Welfare State Handbook, London: Methuen.
De Certeau, M. (2002) The Practice of Everyday Life, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Fox, J. (2002) Eyes on Stalks, London: Methuen.
Govan, Nicholson, & Normington, (2006) Making a Performance: Devising histories and Contemporary Practices, London: Routledge.
Harvie, J. (2005) Staging the UK, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Kaprow, A. (1996) Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Kwon, Miwon (2002) One Place After Another, Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Kaye, N.(2000) Site Specific Art: Performance, Place and Documentation, London.
Pearson M. & Shanks M. (2001) Theatre/archaeology:Disciplinary Dialogues, London: Routledge.
Pearson, M. (2010) Site Specific Performance, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of the emergence and development of 'site' related performance, key practitioners in the field and their respective creative approaches, theoretical contexts in which the form might be considered.
- Demonstrate techniques and skills in carrying out research and engaging in critical analysis of the 'performance text', interrogating the limits and possibilities of site related work (experientially, and research based).
- Demonstrate a range of practical and creative skills underpinning their own creative approach to site related work.
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