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Performance Als Subversieve Kunstpraktijk

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Performance Als Subversieve Kunstpraktijk Universiteit Gent Academiejaar 2008-2009 PERFORMANCE ALS SUBVERSIEVE KUNSTPRAKTIJK Maarten De Boeck. Masterproef aan de Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte, Master Kunstwetenschappen, optie Podium- en Mediale Kunsten, Vakgroep Kunst-, Muziek- en Theaterwetenschap. Inhoudstafel Inleiding ........................................................ Fout! Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd. DEEL 1: Een historische model van subversie en de geschiedenis van performance als subversieve kunstpraktijk.................................................... 10 1 Inleiding........................................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Historisch model van subversie in een notendop. .................................................... 10 1.2 De geschiedenis van performance als subversieve kunstpraktijk. ........................... 15 2 Een historische model van subversie en de geschiedenis van performance als subversieve kunstpraktijk. .................................................................................................... 16 2.1 De pre-subversieve periode. ..................................................................................... 16 2.2 Subversieve periode ................................................................................................. 17 2.2.1 Modernisme. ..................................................................................................... 17 2.2.2 De avant-garde als subversieve kunstpraktijk par excellence: de kern van de subversieve periode. ......................................................................................................... 26 2.2.2.1 Avant-garde performance. ........................................................................ 28 2.2.2.1.1 Futurisme. ........................................................................................... 30 2.2.2.1.2 Dadaïsme. ........................................................................................... 35 2.2.3 Kritische kanttekeningen bij de avant-garde subversie. .................................. 40 2.2.3.1 De avant-garde als „unrepeatable shock‟. ................................................ 40 2.2.3.2 De recuperatie van de avant-garde. .......................................................... 41 2.2.4 De neo avant-garde. .......................................................................................... 43 2.2.4.1 Neo avant-garde performance. ................................................................. 45 2.2.4.1.1 Happening en Fluxus. ......................................................................... 45 2.2.4.1.2 Body Art. ............................................................................................ 56 2.3 De postsubversieve periode. ..................................................................................... 68 2.3.1 Postmodernisme; het einde van de neo avant-garde: de post-subversieve periode. .......................................................................................................................... 68 2.3.2 Performance en de post-subversieve periode. .................................................. 74 DEEL 2: Strategieën tot subversie in de ‘post-subversieve’ periode. ......... 78 1 BAVO. ............................................................................................................................. 78 2 Inke Arns en Sylvia Sasse: de strategie van de subversieve affirmatie. .................... 86 3 Hans-Thies Lehmann: ‘politieke subversie’ in het post-dramatisch theater. ........... 94 Bibliografie ......................................................................................................... 97 2 Inleiding. Dit proefschrift is een onderzoek naar de geschiedenis van performance als subversieve kunstpraktijk. Het uitgangspunt is een historische model van subversie in de kunst. Ik heb dit model in de loop van mijn onderzoek ontwikkeld en ben ervan overtuigd dat er voldoende argumenten zijn om haar these te onderbouwen. Het is een model waarin de kunstgeschiedenis expliciet bekeken wordt vanuit het perspectief van de subversiviteit. Zoals het immers mogelijk is de kunstgeschiedenis te bekijken vanuit het perspectief van schoonheid, of vanuit het perspectief van het sublieme, of vanuit sociologisch of psychoanalytisch oogpunt, is het ook mogelijk haar te bekijken vanuit het perspectief van subversiviteit. Deze paper is opgebouwd uit twee delen. In het eerste deel ontwikkel ik een historisch model van subversie in de kunst. Dit model gaat uit van een opdeling van de kunstgeschiedenis in een pre-subversieve periode, een subversieve periode en een post-subversieve periode, waarbij ik de hypothese verdedig dat er een parallel is tussen dit historisch model van subversie en de geschiedenis van performance als subversieve kunstpraktijk. Het tweede deel heeft tot doel om de „impasse‟ van het post-subversieve tijdperk te nuanceren. Het is immers allerminst mijn bedoeling om met de term „post-subversief‟ een soort doemscenario voor te stellen. Het is niet zo dat kunst in het algemeen en performance in het bijzonder in het zogenaamd post-subversieve tijdperk van de jaren 1980 en nadien op geen enkele manier kritische of subversief is. In het tweede deel buig ik me dan ook over de vraag op welke manier kunst/performance in het post-subversieve tijdperk nog kan ingezet worden als subversief medium. Welke middelen en strategieën kan de postmoderne kunstenaar nog gebruiken om subversief te zijn? Met deze opdeling in twee hoofddelen heb ik geprobeerd om in dit proefschrift een genuanceerd enerzijds/anderzijds verhaal te brengen over performance als subversieve kunstpraktijk. Deel II is in deze zin een soort tegengewicht voor Deel I, zonder dat ze elkaar wederzijds uitsluiten. Het is voor het begrip van deze studie noodzakelijk te vermelden dat in dit proefschrift de verklaringen voor het verminderde subversieve potentieel van kunst in het algemeen en 3 performance in het bijzonder, eerder „sociologisch‟ van aard zijn, in de zin dat deze verklaringen vooral gesitueerd worden in de historisch veranderende maatschappelijke context van kunst. Verduidelijking van de gebruikte terminologie. Vooraleer van start te gaan met mijn uiteenzetting, en om Babylonische spraakverwarring te vermijden, wil ik even verduidelijken wat er precies bedoeld wordt met een aantal essentiële begrippen in deze studie. Ik heb tijdens mijn onderzoek namelijk gemerkt dat een aantal begrippen door verschillende auteurs ietwat verschillend ingevuld worden. Het begrip „subversie‟. Een sleutelbegrip in deze studie is ongetwijfeld „subversie‟. Ik denk dat het van belang is om te definiëren wat er precies met dit begrip bedoeld wordt. In het Van Dale Handwoordenboek Hedendaags Nederlands wordt het woord verklaard als gezagsondermijnend. In het Van Dale Groot woordenboek Engels-Nederlands wordt het Engelse begrip „subversive‟ vertaald met: „subversief‟, „ontwrichtend‟, „omverwerpend‟, „revolutionair‟, „ondergronds‟, „ondermijnend‟. Op basis hiervan heb ik volgende werkdefinitie opgesteld: „Subversiviteit‟ is een fenomeen waarbij een kunstwerk („performance‟ in het geval van deze studie) een ontwrichtende, ondermijnende invloed heeft. Een kunstwerk is subversief als het indruist tegen de waarden en normen van de maatschappij in het algemeen en het beschouwer van het kunstwerk in het bijzonder. Een kunstwerk is dus subversief als er sprake is van „transgressie‟. “Bij „transgressie‟ gaat het heel algemeen over een wet of bepaling, die op een manier wordt overtreden.”1 (De begrippen „subversief‟, „transgressie‟, „ondermijnend‟ zullen in de tekst derhalve ook door elkaar gebruikt worden. Ze verwijzen allen naar de definitie zoals hierboven beschreven, en er is dus geen kwalitatief onderscheid tussen deze termen in deze tekst.2) 1 CROMBEZ, Thomas, Het Anti-Theater van Antonin Artaud: Een onderzoek naar de veralgemeende artistieke transgressie, Toegepast op het werk van Romeo Castellucci en de Societas Raffaello Sanzio, Gent, Academia Press, 2008, p.9. 2 In Het Anti-theater van Antonin Artaud maak Thomas Crombez op p.9 wel een kwalitatief onderscheid tussen de termen „subversie‟ en „transgressie‟, waarbij „transgressie‟ volgens hem een eerder algemene connotatie heeft, en „subversie‟ te zeer verankerd is in politieke en militaire termen. In de context van dit proefschrift acht ik het echter weinig nuttig dergelijk onderscheid te maken. 4 Er is bij subversie dus sprake van het omverwerpen en doorbreken van maatschappelijke verwachtingspatronen. Er is sprake van een verzet tegen de gevestigde orde. Deze normen en waarden kunnen van esthetische, maatschappelijk morele of politieke aard zijn: het kunnen bijvoorbeeld artistieke normen zijn, of normen betreffende identiteit, gender of seksualiteit. In het kader van dit proefschrift is het bijzonder nuttig om het onderscheid te maken tussen artistieke, maatschappelijke en politieke subversie. Het onderscheid tussen deze vormen van subversie wordt ook gemaakt in het boek Transgressions – The Offences of Art van Anthony Julius. Hij beschrijft ze als volgt: The modern period may be characterised in part by three distinct kinds, or versions of transgressive art: an art that breaks art‟s own rules; an art of taboo-breaking; a politically resistant art. That is to say, there is an art that repudiates established art practices, an art that violates certain beliefs and sentiments of its audience, an art that challenges the rule of the state. These are, of course, abstractions,
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