Philip Auslander

First piece of theory actually set by the uni! A really thought-provoking and well-written piece that asks you to re-evaluate the traditional measures by which we judge "authenticity" in performance art documentation, as well as arguing (convincingly) for the act of documentation to be a performative act and not a constative one.

The only flaw here, imo, is the lack of attention paid towards performance works which are sculptural in essence. Because these works deal with three-dimensional show more space, there's no documentation that can actually be said to bring the work to a larger audience, as much as it can be said that seeing a photo of, say, Fontana's cut canvases, is akin to seeing the "real" thing. show less