This is an unusual course because you, the students, choose and curate the case studies that compose the majority of the content of each class.
That means we have to collectively consider how content we choose on our own might affect others in our classroom (in whatever physical or virtual incarnation that “classroom” takes).
We will be looking and listening to art (performance, theater, dance & media), and art takes the whole of social existence as its subject matter. Additionally, I am asking you to find and present art that is engaged with social and political dilemmas of our present moment. Many of those issues – like police brutality – are highly sensitive and triggering. The form and content of art that references this violence may be triggering as well. We may be looking at work that imitates “realistic-typical violence,” or involves dubious consent or nonconsensual sexual behavior, and/or hate speech. What I hope is that if any of these “triggers” may appear in the work, they do so because the artist or artists have included them in a critical manner, as we are seeking work that helps us to understand and transform this moment into a future that is far more equitable and sustainable than our present moment.
So far as I’ve been able to determine, the required reading material does not include graphic realistically depicted violence; extensive gun violence; nonconsensual sexual situations that would be rated R or NC-17 in a film; or self-harm in realistic contexts.
If a nominated performance you bring to the class to consider (either to your smaller group or to the full class) seems to you to require a content warning specific to that work, please include that warning in your weekly post and then again in the description for the nominated show. The warning should be brief, descriptive, and, if it pertains to a visual sequence, please try and note the beginning and ending time codes of the sequence. Please read your classmates notes before you watch the show they propose. If you find that there may be something that would trigger you personally, you have the leeway to skip viewing that show or forward through parts that you may find problematic. Art is messy. One artist’s attempt to be thoughtful and critical still may be emotionally challenging for the work’s interlocutor Take care of yourself and do what you need to do in order to study performance, for performance offers necessary knowledge and the space to rehearse how you can imagine and engage in the world at large.