Fifteen writers explore the experimental, interdisciplinary and
radically transgressive field of contemporary live art in South Africa,
focusing on a wide range of perspectives, personalities and theoretical
concerns
Contemporary South African society is chronologically 'post' apartheid,
but it continues to grapple with material redress, land redistribution
and systemic racism. Acts of Transgression represents the complexity of
this moment in the rich potential of a performative art form that
transcends disciplinary boundaries and aesthetic conventions. The
contributors, who are all significantly involved in the discipline of
performance art, probe its intersection with crisis and socio-political
turbulence, shifting notions of identity and belonging, embodied trauma
and loss. Narratives of the past and visions for the future are
interrogated through memory and the archive, thus destabilising
entrenched colonial systems.
Collectively analysing the work of more than 25 contemporary South
African artists, including Athi-Patra Ruga, Mohau Modisakeng, Steven
Cohen, Dean Hutton, Mikhael Subotzsky, Tracey Rose and Donna Kukama,
among others, the analysis is accompanied by a visual record of more
than 50 photographs. For those working in the fields of theatre,
performance studies and art, this is a must-have collection of critical
essays on a burgeoning and exciting field of contemporary South African
research.
