Qiyun Zheng

Summary:

In this chapter, the author showcases an introduction to the meaning of “performance”.

“Performance” can be comprehended from different dimensions because this word has different meanings in different fields. “To perform” can be understood in relation to “being”, “doing”, “showing doing”, and “explaining ‘showing doing’”.

Every performance is a “restored behavior”, even the performance with seemingly “oneceness” is constructed by former behaviors, and thus every action can be seen as a performance. Our life is a performance.

Erving Goffman believes that a “performance” may be defined as all the activity of a given participant on a given occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants. The pattern formed may be called a “part” or a “routine”. When the “part” is played to the same audience on different occasions, a social relationship arises.

Performances resist that which produces them because even though performances are all constructed by restored behaviors, every single performance is unique due to variations in situations, moods, and so on.

Marvin Carlson: we should consider performance as an essentially contested concept to understand how the word “performance” covers so many fields.

“Performance” in art, ritual, sports, business, and sex

What is “art” is designated according to the specific context, historical circumstance, cultural background, use, and conventions, so a performance is not necessarily art. It is sometimes hard to separate performance from one another, but one can comprehend from the angle of functionality.

As a performance happens between things, restored behavior is “out there”, “not me”, because they are composed by the collective “Anonymous” or the “Tradition”. Restored behaviors can be worked on, transformed, and renewed; they are symbolic and reflexive.

Performances can be generalized or divided into genres. The definitions of genre change with time and cultural background.

Not everything “is” performance, but everything can be studied “as” performance.

Gay McAuley: a performance must involve the live presence of the performers and audiences with intentionality, with place and temporality enabling both parties to be present and the definition of performance being agreed upon.

Allan Kaprow: Artlike art and lifelike art – artlike art is separate from life, for the art’s sake; lifelike art is connected to life and serves life.

Map as performance – a performance is designed to show a certain angle, not the fact.

Make-belief and make-believe – “make-belief” creates social realities, while “make-believe” clarifies what’s real and what’s not.

Boundaries are blurry nowadays because of globalization.

Performances have different and multiple functions.

Susanne K. Langer – Every good art work is beautiful. Art is expressive, and beauty is expressive form. Even seemingly hideous artwork expresses and is beautiful.

Learnings:

Our life can be understood as performance because everything is composed of restored behaviors. There’s nothing to stress about “creating”, because every behavior is transformed, renewed, and worked on, based on previous behaviors.