Module Identifier PF30910  
Module Title DOCUMENTING AND CRITICISING PERFORMANCE  
Academic Year 2003/2004  
Co-ordinator Mr Michael J Brookes  
Semester Semester 2  
Pre-Requisite PF20420 , PF20110 , PF20210 , PF30520 , PF30310  
Co-Requisite PF30520  
Course delivery Lecture   15 Hours 10 x 1hr 30 mins lecture / demonstrations  
  Seminars / Tutorials   2 Hours 2 x 1hr 45 mins tutorials  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment Essay: Method of assessment : either: A Box of Artefacts, to include critical writing to the equivalent of 5,000 words or: An Installation at Site, to include critical writing to the equivalent of 5,000 words - 100% 100%

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Learning outcomes:

Typically, upon completion of the module, the student will be able:
- to review and evaluate critically their own performance practices
- to design and execute the creative documentation of such work
- to exercise personal judgment in the research and development of appropriate modes of documentation
- to accept personal responsibility for the effective documentation of self-authored work


Aims

The aim of this module is :

to describe and examine techniques for the inscription and documentation of those performance genres, events and practices which do not exist as play-scripts.
to reflect critically upon and document the practical presentations devised in Semester 3.

Content

Lecture schedule :

1. The document I : an introduction to forms of performance documentation
2. The document II : as text
3. The document III : as mediated object (video, film, sound recording)
4. The document IV : as lecture or second-order performance (performance about performance)
5. The document V : as installation or exhibition
6. The use of other disciplines I : anthropology and ethnographic enquiry
7. The use of other disciplines II : archaeology and dealing with fragmentary evidence
8. The use of other disciplines III : human geography and techniques of mapping
9. Critical genres : opinion, review, criticism
10. A poetics of performance : textual strategies for non-textual performance

Criteria for assessment :

Box of Artefacts/Installation at Site : in assessing the box/installation, the examiner will expect:
- effective employment of procedures discussed in the module and evidence of individual research (10% of the overall mark)
- effective relationship between the performance to be documented and the form of documentation employed (20%)
- effective inscription of performance material (10%)
- innovation in the nature and placement of deconstructed forms of academic writing (30%)
- innovation in the nature of performance documentation (30%)


The lectures will present and discuss procedures for documenting and criticising performance.
The tutorial time allows for the discussion of the feasibility of assessment assignments.

Transferable skills

Transferable skills :

- fully conceiving and executing personal creative initiatives
- self organisation
- project planning and execution

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
Woods,Alan (1996) Being Naked Playing Dead: The Art of Peter Greenaway Manchester University Press
Baker, Steve et al. (eds) (1996) A Tomato Project Thames and Hudson
Baker, Steve et al. (eds) (1999) Bareback. A Tomato Project Laurence King
Berko, Geroges and Strohmeyer, Ulf (1997) Space and Social Theory Blackwell
Crary, Jonathan and Kwinter, Sanford (1992) Incorporations Zone
Duncan, James and Ley, David (1993) Place / Culture / Representation Routledge
Finnegan, Ruth (1992) Oral Traditions and the Verbal Arts Routledge
Heathfield, Adrian (ed) (1997) Shattered Anatomies: Traces of the Body in Performance Arndfini Live
Least Heat-Moon, William (1991) PrairyEth Andre Deutsch
Pearson, Mike and Thomas, Julian (1994) 'Theatre/Archaeology' in The Drama Review T-144 Winter
Shanks, Michael (1992) Experiencing the Past Routledge
Thorpe, Adam (1992) Ulverton Vintage
Tschumi, Bernard (1994) The Manhattan Transcripts Academy Editions
Ulmer, Gregory (1989) Teletheory Routledge, Chapman and Hall

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6