Questions to consider while reading // bell hooks – Performance Practice as a Site of Opposition (1995)
- This essay was published in 1995 in a collection of essays by various authors called Let’s Get it On: The Politics of Black Performance.
- How does hooks link ritual and performance art? What is the significance of the opening paragraph in relation to the main body of the essay?
- What types of work does hooks include under the umbrella of “performance art”? What do you include in your understanding of performance art?
- How has social media changed the performance landscape since hooks wrote this essay 30 years ago?
- hooks touches on the concept of masking as a performance for survival. What are ways that you perform/have performed, consciously or unconsciously? What are/were the effects?
Questions to consider while reading // Pauline Oliveros – Safe to Play (2016)
- What crossovers does this piece of writing have with our unit on Live Art? How do you see this text in conversation with the bell hooks essay we read?
- How do Oliveros’ descriptions of sonic meditation and/or deep listening relate to what you’ve learned about circuit bending?
- Where does play/improvisation fit into your art practice, if at all?
- What conditions constitute a safe place for you to play in?
The reading below is optional!