Jess Dobkins Wetrospective by Laura Levin

Jess Dobkins Wetrospective by Laura Levin

Taking as its starting point the first-ever retrospective exhibition (2021) of performance art icon Jess Dobkin, the book reflects on the internationally acclaimed artist’s playful and provocative practice as performer, activist, curator, and community leader. At the same time, it grapples with a question that is vital for art and performance studies: How do archives perform? More than a discrete showing of a single artist’s work, the exhibition, including its new staging in book form, is a large-scale research experiment in performance curation, investigating what it might mean for art institutions to take seriously the embodied and communal nature of performance art in their practices of archiving and museological display. In Jess Dobkin’s Wetrospective, a cast of renowned international performance theorists and artists dive into this exploration alongside Dobkin, curator Emelie Chhangur, and performance theorist and dramaturg Laura Levin. These contributions appear alongside a riot of full colour photographs, providing access to Dobkin’s celebrated artistic productions from the last 30 years.

'Wetrospective celebrates over thirty years of Dobkin's compelling practice, from cabaret performances to unannounced interventions[Jess Dobkin’s Wetrospective] restages the exhibition in print. Designed by Lisa Kiss, the oversized volume features full-bleed colour images on almost every page, as well as writings by Chhangur, editor Laura Levin and a large cast of colleagues. It also includes illuminating drawings and writings by the artist.

Jess Dobkin is hands-down my favourite Canadian Performance Artist. Her work is bold, thoughtful, resonant, and accessible - deftly balancing confrontation with comedy. Jess Dobkin’s Wetrospective: Constellating performance archives is the first comprehensive survey of her work, clearly produced by all involved as a labour of love.'

-- Dave Dyment, Artists' Books and Multiples

Laura Levin is associate professor of theatre and performance at York University (Toronto) and York research chair in art, technology, and global activism. She is director of Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts and Technology and the Hemispheric Encounters Network, and author of Performing Ground: Space, Camouflage, and the Art of Blending In.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781835950449
ISBN 10	1835950442
Title	Jess Dobkins Wetrospective
Author	Laura Levin
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Intellect
Year published	2024-10-18
Number of pages	192
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.