Performa 11

Classes and Events

The Performa Institute, situated at the Performa Hub, is a pilot program of Artist Classes featuring Performa 11 artists, curators, and associated figures. These classes create a space for the presentation and exploration of ideas and the exchange of research and knowledge, with a focus on the study of history. We are asking artists, curators and writers to function as educators across disciplines from exhibition-making through historical research to visions for the future of art and ideas in New York City and around the world.

Performa Institute is organized by Dougal Phillips, Manager of Curatorial Affairs, and Defne Ayas, Curator at Large.

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Alexandra ObukhovaAction vs Performance - A short history of Moscow performances, 1970 - 2000s
Alexandra Obukhova, renowned Russian art historian and curator will deliver a lecture on Russian Performance from the avant-garde to the contemporary, in association with the Performa and Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow collaborative exhibition 33 Fragments of Russian Performance.
Andrey KuzkinPerformance
Russian artist Andrey Kuzkin will premiere a new performance in the Performa Hub as part of the exhibition 33 Fragments of Russian Performance.
Serkan Ozkaya Artist Class: Speech Acts and 3D Modeling
Taking inspiration from Austin's "How To Do Things with Words" and the 3D modeling of Michelangelo's David, Ozkaya will explore the ways in which language replaces the world and representation replaces the object.
Liutauras Psibilskis, Michael David Quattlebaum Jr. and Sissel KardelOn Blindness and Ginger Island
Take a class with Ginger Island Project curator Liutauras Psibilskis and artists Michael David Quattlebaum Jr. and Sissel Kardel, on the topic of blindness and the experience of the Fluxus travelers on Ginger Island.
Professor Daniel Gerouldon Adrian Piotrovsky, Soviet Mass Spectacles, and Festive Performance with live recitation
Lecture and Discussion with Prof. Daniel Gerould, Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, The Graduate Center, CUNY on Adrian Piotrovsky, Soviet Mass Spectacles, and Festive Performance (“eoratology”), with a live recitation!
Mai-Thu Perret Artist Class: On Utopia
Join Performa 11 Premiere artist Mai-Thu Perret for an Artist Class exploring the topics of Russian Constructivism and Utopia.
Elmgreen & DragsetArtist Class
Take a very special class with Performa Commission artists Elmgreen & Dragset! Seats limited!
Liz GlynnArtist Class: The Best of Intentions: Futility, Failure, and Performance
In this Artist Class, Glynn will explore the relationship between human scale and iconic monumental form, the messiness of collective negotiation, and the tensions and desires around structural perfection and monumentality.
Antonio ManuelA discussion with the artist and screening of his short films Arte Hoje, Semi Ótica
This discussion will include artist Antonio Manuel with Claudia Calirman and Gabriela Rangel, curators of his first solo exhibition in the U.S. Antonio Manuel: I Want to Act, Not Represent! currently on view at the Americas Society. The short films Arte Hoje (1976), Semi Ótica (1975) and Loucura & Cultura (1973) feature friends and fellow artists Rogério Duarte, Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Pape, Luiz Carlos Saldanha and Caetano Veloso.
Mika Rottenberg and Jon KesslerArtist Talk - co-presented with Columbia University
Performa 11 Commission artists Mika Rottenberg and Jon Kessler discuss their collaborative project SEVEN. Co-presented with The Columbia University School of the Arts.
Nicoline van HarskampAny Other Business - a scripted conference, video installation
Any Other Business is a video installation of a fully scripted conference recorded for a live audience in an Amsterdam convention centre. In each of its nine meetings, based on original political debates and speeches, a productive type of miscommunication occurs.
John PowersStar Wars and the Rhetoric of Power
A talk about Star Wars, not as literary fantasy but as an real object; an object made at a particular time and place, by a particular group of people, informed by the politics of American modernism.
Raphaël ZarkaArtist Lecture: The Geometry of Skateboarding
Zarka presents recent research into the “geometry of skateboarding” and its relation to modern sculpture. which will also be translated into English for the first time and available for the audience as a free publication.
Ragnar Kjartansson and Davíd ﬁór JónssonArtist Class: On Music and Forgiveness / followed by book signing
Join Performa 11 Commission artist Ragnar Kjartansson and Conductor Davíd ﬁór Jónsson for a very special class on Mozart, music and forgiveness. Seats limited!
Burak ArikanArtist Class: Creative Networking Workshop
A series of workshops focusing on the design of large scale networks as a creative activity and expanding the individual's thinking about the network as a creative medium. Maximum 15 participants. Reserve your place now!
The Vera List Center for Art and Politics: Melanie Crean and Claire Picher Building Better Speech Performance Workshops
Explore performative and technological strategies to facilitate speech with groups that are affected by political transformation or upheaval, investigating how issues of identity and power can be communicated as a form of text, through gesture and through socially-based technical frameworks in a form of collective action.
Julieta Aranda and Carlos Motta and guests"Thank You and Good-Bye"
A public discussion with Julieta Aranda, Carlos Motta and guests (Naeem Mohaiemen, Adam Kleinman, Defne Ayas) that will use the publication “Broken English” as a point of departure to shift the focus from "Constructivism" as a movement in art and design to "Constructivism" as a sociological theory of knowledge focused in group interactions.
Mark Beasley and Nathaniel MellorsCockadoodledon't!!!: on humor and language
Performa curator Mark Beasley and biennial artist Nathaniel Mellors discuss the serious nonsense and surreal side of humor and language, from vaudeville, Beckett and Monty Python to the absurdist scripts and psychedelic theater of Mellors' own 'Giantbum' and 'Ourhouse.'
Abbas Akhavan, Fatima Al Qadiri and Khalid al Gharaballi, and Youmna ChlalaThe Anti-Artist Talk Series
In this series of talks artists explore a theme tangential to their own work in an attempt to dismantle the predominance and formulaic structure of the conventional artist talk. Curated by Barrak Alzaid, Artistic Director ArteEast.
Michael PortnoyArtist Class: Permutation Riff Tank
Michael Portnoy will lead participants in a bit of "conceptual horticulture", developing new breeds of practice from the seeds of works presented in Performa 11.
Dennis Oppenheim“Compression Fern” (1970) screening and action
Join us for a special screening of “Compression Fern” (1970) from Tooth and Nail: Film and Video 1970-1974 by Dennis Oppenheim. The viewing of “Compression Fern” (1970) will be paired with attempts to compress organic material provided on the night.
Proposed curriculum on contemporary art and performance: Dennis Oppenheim and the art of survival, Day 17
Three conversational seminars around the life and work of Dennis Oppenheim. Each will bring distinct vantage points to the discussion of Oppenheim’s work and practice, and in particular his lifelong interrogation of the idea of performance and body projects.
Liam Gillick and Anton VidokleA Guiding Light (Part II)
A Guiding Light was first produced as a collaboration between Performa and the Shanghai Biennale. Gillick and Vidokle will re-frame the piece by creating a ‘behind-the-scenes’ conversation that will be part-screening, part-sincere critique, and part-promotional staging for the 'film'.
Ben Kinmont with Laurel George (NYU)Ethical considerations in project art practices
A presentation by cultural anthropologist Laurel George and artist Ben Kinmont, considering interactional art practices outside of institutional space, a mode that Kinmont has been working in for over two decades.
Eve Essex and David GutkinExperiments in Notation
A workshop to explore varying definitions and uses of notation in time-based art.
Guy MaddinThe Power of a Continuity-Free Cinema
Take a very special artist class with Performa 11 Commission artist and filmmaker Guy Maddin. Seats limited!
Performa Institute PresentsPortrait of the Artist: Lorraine O'Grady
Portrait of the Artist: Lorraine O’Grady will examine the remarkable work and life of artist Lorraine O’Grady in the context of feminism, politics, and art of the 1980s and today
Performa Benefit Auction
Performa Benefit Auction to include works by previous Performa biennial artists and many more

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Classes and Events

Alexandra ObukhovaAction vs Performance - A short history of Moscow performances, 1970 - 2000s

Andrey KuzkinPerformance

Serkan Ozkaya Artist Class: Speech Acts and 3D Modeling

Liutauras Psibilskis, Michael David Quattlebaum Jr. and Sissel KardelOn Blindness and Ginger Island

Professor Daniel Gerouldon Adrian Piotrovsky, Soviet Mass Spectacles, and Festive Performance with live recitation

Mai-Thu Perret Artist Class: On Utopia

Elmgreen & DragsetArtist Class

Liz GlynnArtist Class: The Best of Intentions: Futility, Failure, and Performance

Antonio ManuelA discussion with the artist and screening of his short films Arte Hoje, Semi Ótica

Mika Rottenberg and Jon KesslerArtist Talk - co-presented with Columbia University

Nicoline van HarskampAny Other Business - a scripted conference, video installation

John PowersStar Wars and the Rhetoric of Power

Raphaël ZarkaArtist Lecture: The Geometry of Skateboarding

Ragnar Kjartansson and Davíd ﬁór JónssonArtist Class: On Music and Forgiveness / followed by book signing

Burak ArikanArtist Class: Creative Networking Workshop

The Vera List Center for Art and Politics: Melanie Crean and Claire Picher Building Better Speech Performance Workshops

Julieta Aranda and Carlos Motta and guests"Thank You and Good-Bye"

Mark Beasley and Nathaniel MellorsCockadoodledon't!!!: on humor and language

Abbas Akhavan, Fatima Al Qadiri and Khalid al Gharaballi, and Youmna ChlalaThe Anti-Artist Talk Series

Michael PortnoyArtist Class: Permutation Riff Tank

Dennis Oppenheim“Compression Fern” (1970) screening and action

Proposed curriculum on contemporary art and performance: Dennis Oppenheim and the art of survival, Day 17

Liam Gillick and Anton VidokleA Guiding Light (Part II)

Ben Kinmont with Laurel George (NYU)Ethical considerations in project art practices

Eve Essex and David GutkinExperiments in Notation

Guy MaddinThe Power of a Continuity-Free Cinema

Performa Institute PresentsPortrait of the Artist: Lorraine O'Grady

Performa Benefit Auction