Participatory Dissent (Day 4)

Description:

Western Front presented an auxiliary program in collaboration with the 2007 edition of the LIVE Performance Art Biennale, which was curated around the theme of “public.” 

During the fourth day of the program a roundtable discussion took place entitled “Debates in Performance Practice and Curation,” with curator Natalie Loveless and featured artists. 

The panel examined motivations, debates, and the political, social, and historical genealogies that stemmed from divergent contemporary performance art practices. There was reflection on the prevailing structures of thought and how to dynamically engage with inheritances and innovations.

The event fostered dialogue between artists’ work that addressed the histories and stakes of both duration and endurance, to body-based performance and social-intervention practices. Themes of the works were discussed, such as public intervention, alternative economies, and cultures of fear in the post 9/11 era.