The Explicit Body in Performance

Description

Is it performance art or pornography? Since the early 1960s, women in performance art have worked to "liberate" the female body from the confines of patriarchal delimitation. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the clash of the rubrics "porn" and "art" manipulated by female artists worked to complicate the already embattled debates about the terms of that liberation. This is a study of the controversial and often shocking issues which surround the use of the female body in performance art. Schneider tackles topics which include the "post porn modernist movement", censorship by the New Right, primitivism, commodity fetishism, and the link between the modern prostitute and the postmodern performance artist. Artists and groups whose work she examines include Karen Finley, Carolee Scheemann, Annie Sprinkle and Spiderwoman Theatre.

"I would...encourage people to take the time to read it. It will give them and insight into the world of feminist performance art and a knowledge of contemporary radical ideas in the deconstruction of gender."-"Lesbian Sex Scandals ..."gives in-depth analyses and explorations of the works of "explicit body" artists..and..provides valuable historical back-round on the movements and artists that inspired thier work....this is a valuable addition to the library of anyone interested in feminism and performance art.."-D.C. Culbertson, "Baltimore Alternative ..."undoubtedly an important contribution to performance studies..."-"Lesbian Review of Books