Acts of Transgression by Catherine Boulle
Fifteen writers explore the experimental, interdisciplinary and radically transgressive field of contemporary live art in South Africa, focusing on a wide range of perspectives, personalities and theoretical concerns Contemporary South African society is chronologically 'post' apartheid, but it continues to grapple with material redress, land redistribution and systemic racism. Acts of Transgression represents the complexity of this moment in the rich potential of a performative art form that transcends disciplinary boundaries and aesthetic conventions. The contributors, who are all significantly involved in the discipline of performance art, probe its intersection with crisis and socio-political turbulence, shifting notions of identity and belonging, embodied trauma and loss. Narratives of the past and visions for the future are interrogated through memory and the archive, thus destabilising entrenched colonial systems. Collectively analysing the work of more than 25 contemporary South African artists, including Athi-Patra Ruga, Mohau Modisakeng, Steven Cohen, Dean Hutton, Mikhael Subotzsky, Tracey Rose and Donna Kukama, among others, the analysis is accompanied by a visual record of more than 50 photographs. For those working in the fields of theatre, performance studies and art, this is a must-have collection of critical essays on a burgeoning and exciting field of contemporary South African research.
This collection of essays coheres around conceptual themes that link the instability, volatility, precarity, and excess of live art itself to the instability, volatility, precarity, and excess of the contemporary moment in South Africa— Catherine M. Cole, Professor of Drama, University of Washington. The scope is impressive and the thematic clustering of chapters points to `trends’ in the `state of the art’ ... a very important contribution to the scholarship of live art in South Africa. — Marie-Heleen Coetzee, Professor and Head of Department of Drama, University of Pretoria
Catherine Boulle is a writer and researcher at the Institute for Creative Arts, University of Cape Town, where her work includes initiating new research on live art in South Africa.
Jay Pather is a choreographer, curator and academic. He is Director of the Institute for Creative Arts at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and Associate Professor in UCT's Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781776142798 |
| ISBN 10 | 1776142799 |
| Title | Acts of Transgression |
| Author | Jay Pather |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Wits University Press |
| Year published | 2019-02-01 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences Best Edited Non-Fiction Book 2020 (South Africa) |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |