Anarchistory of Performance, a heresy in action

Performance-lecture on The Art of Not Being Governed

by Luis Guerra
(! and "erformance, rather, tries to be a "ure reality, an indiscernible,
tendentiously, of a #hatever becoming$ Alain Badiou in %A Theatre of
&"erations' A discussion bet#een Alain Badiou and (lie )uring%, in A Theater
#ithout Theater (Barcelona' *useu d%Art +ontem"orani de Barcelona, ,--.!,
"" ,,-,/
0The body is the "hysical agent of the structures of everyday e1"erience 2t
is the "roducer of dreams, the transmitter and receiver of cultural messages,
a creature of habits, a desiring machine, a re"ository of memories, an actor
in the theater of "o#er, a tissue of a3ects and feelings Because the body is
at the boundary bet#een biology and society, bet#een drives and discourse,
bet#een the se1ual and its categori4ation in terms of "o#er, biogra"hy and
history, it is the site "ar e1cellence for transgressing the constraints of
meaning or #hat social discourse "rescribes as normal0 -Nelly 5ichard,
5et6ricas del +uer"o, *7rgenes e 2nstituciones,, 89.:
02f you share your life on the "erformance art stage, you "ut yourself in a
"osition to be seriously ;udged as a good "erson or bad "erson At times 2
#as #orshi"ed as a goddess-- art lovers lavished me #ith gifts, shared their
beautiful tears, gave me their blessings, s"rin<led me #ith their love and
adoration At other times 2 #as hated-- "rotested against, screamed at,
threatened #ith arrest, consistently censored, stal<ed, and 2 even had my life
threatened &n stage 2 sim"ly shared #ho 2 #as, #hich ha""ens to be a lot of
things that a lot of "eo"le love to ;udge and to hate= an e1-"rostitute, a
"ornogra"her, a #itch, a >e#, a lesbian, a feminist, and yes a "erformance
artist 2nterestingly, the "eo"le #ho e1"ressed the most hatred never met
me or sa# my #or<0 -Annie ?"rin<le,, htt"'@@annies"rin<leorg@my-
"erformances-in-retros"ect@
2n November 89/:, at Aenceslas ?Buare, Prague, the +4ech artist >iri
Covanda "erformed the "iece Theater, 2 follo# a "reviously #ritten
scri"t to the letter Gestures and movements have been selected so
that "assers-by #ill not sus"ect that they are #atching a
"erformance$$ Covanda has said that his actions$ #ere doing
something invisible, something com"letely unnecessary ?omething
that can be done normally, something that ha""ens all the time, in a
#ay that is abnormal$
Covanda has said that the activity of art can change society but only
indirectly, #hich could be reframed as a change "roduced through
invisible forms, ine1istent to the frames of intelligibility e1horted by
those in "o#er
CovandaDs #or< is one among other e1am"les of art "rocedures #ith
not E1ed abode 2 could also name the #or<s of Gordon *atta-+lar<,
Adrian Pi"er, Bas >an Ader,, Felio &iticica, *laden ?tilinovic, +arlos
Altamirano, (lGas Adasme, among others These forms of action are
invisible to the norm, unnamed, d#elling a nomadic and unsettled
condition, disa""earing as sur"lus holes of the situation Through
subtractive strategies, 2 argue, these "rocedures render a subversive
accumulation of ordinary gestures against +a"ital nomenclature
Anarchistory
But Erst, #hat is an anarchistoryH Fere 2 #ill refer to a double source'
the conce"t of Anarchitecture coined by artist and architect Gordon
*atta-+lar< and the notion of Anarchist Fistory by anthro"ologist
>ames + ?cott
Anarchitecture #as the name of a collective "ro;ect, a Ne# Ior< based
artist grou" that mi1ed the conce"ts of anarchy and architecture as a
#ay of gras"ing an interstitial territory of critical e1"loration 2t is
necessary to say that the conce"t of Anarchitecture #as born from a
series of informal conversations develo"ed by the grou" throughout
89/J
Gordon *atta-+lar< #rote in a letter to 5obert Lendenfrost
8
'
The grou" that 2 re"resent, as 2 mentioned by tele"hone, are (sic!
#ell-<no#n young artists coming from a #ide range of disci"lines #ho
have been meeting together for over a year to discuss an attitude
#hich #e loosely call KAnarchitectureD This term does not im"ly anti-
architecture, but rather is an attem"t at clarifying ideas about s"ace
#hich are "ersonal insights and reactions than formal socio-"olitical
statements$ >anuary ,8, 89/L
2n *arch 89/M, they "roduced an e1hibition named also as
Anarchitecture at the 88, Greene ?treet Aor<sho" in Ne# Ior< The
Grou" #as then formed by Laurie Anderson, Tina Girouard, +arol
Goodden, ?u4anne Farris, >ene Fighstein, Bernard Cirschenbaun,
5ichard Landry, 5ichard Nonas, and Gordon *atta-+lar<
Anarchitecture #as about ma<ing s"ace #ithout building itD$
,
8
Letter from Gordon *atta-+lar< to 5obert Lendenfrost, Aorld Trade +enter, Ne#
Ior<, >anuary ,8, 89/L, in Gordon *atta-+lar<' Aor<s and +ollected Aritings, ed
Gloria *oure, Barcelona ,--:, " J:9
,
>ames Attlee, To#ards Anarchitecture' Gordon *atta-+lar< And Le +orbusier,
htt"'@@###tateorgu<@do#nload@Ele@Ed@/,9/,
>ames + ?cott states at the beginning of his boo< The Art of not being
Governed'
The huge literature on state-ma<ing, contem"orary and historic,
"ays virtually no attention to its obverse' the history of deliberate and
reactive statelessness This is the history of those #ho got a#ay, and
state-ma<ing cannot be understood a"art of it This is also #hat
ma<es this an anarchist history$
J
An anarchist history involves then
the history of those that by di3erent actions or strategies constitute
"rocedures of ?tate-re"elling An anarchist history is the history of
those archived by the ?tate but never sub;ects of it 2t is a history of
the "rocedures and choices decided by a grou" or individual to
maintain itself a#ay from the ?tate This is also the Art of not being
governed' techniBues, "rocedures and strategies through #hich an
individual or a grou" can stay a#ay or to maintain the ?tate far from
themselves, understanding here that state means what enumerates,
names and controls the parts of a situation$
M
?o, an anarchistory #ould be an anarchist history #hich ma<es s"ace
#ithout building it An anarchistory of Performance #ould be in itself a
"erformance, a "rocedure, a strategy that, on the contrary of naming
or enumerating, com"oses s"aces, tra;ectories, inEnite sets
Naming is a form of constitutive state Naming is a form of active La#
2f you name, you are controlling, determining, stratifying, com"osing,
consisting, E1ing and deEning 2f you name you are measuring Name
sha"es the #orld An action, on the contrary, even being "art, #hich
is to say, included into the given situation, can unname An action can
J
>ames + ?cott, The Art of not being governed, Preface "age N, Iale Oniversity
Press, ,--9
M
Alain Badiou, ?aint Paul, "age /:-//
com"ose a s"ace for indiferentiation An that action can also not only
be "art but also can a""ears as usual, ordinary to the norm
The level of the everyday
>ames + ?cott has "ointed out that infra"olitics are those "ractices
ha""ening at the level of the everyday, a form of "olitics that doesnDt
refer to the re"resentational forms or any <ind of "olitical discourse
but on the contrary to those activities that undermine the system by
its, 2 #ill say, subtractive$ action As an e1am"le he "ro"oses
"oaching, the illegal hunting #ithin lands o#ned by those in "o#er,
state or elites These actions are ordinary #ea"ons, #ea"ons of the
#ea<, #hich are active in an e3ective infra"olitical level These are
forms of struggle against "rivate "ro"erty 2t is at the same level that 2
claim that some of the "erformative "ractices, the <ind of #ithout
E1ed abode, are also #or<ing at this ordinary level, not as a
re"resentational or mimetic condition of the everyday, but directly as
#ea< #ea"ons Aithin the "olitical situation at the moment,
CovandaDs actions #here e3ective s"ace-forms, anarchitectural
"erformances, #hich undermined not only the symbolical ca"ital of
the 5egime but its core Aithout being seen his actions avoided the
direct confrontation By refusing to develo" any <ind of s"ectacular
statement of the action, #hich #ould immediately recom"ose the
dialectical landsca"e of master-slave, negation-destruction bet#een
"o#er and the "o#erless, these actions remain unsettled, unnamed,
in a "oint of fugue, in a "ermanent disa""earing The subversive
e1ercise a""ears #ithout "resence (Peltham note and Brassier note'
on "resentation and "resence!, but by the act of absolute #ithdra#n
2t is this ordinary a""earance that com"oses the subtractive
o"eration Ahat is not di3erent from #hat is considered by the ?tate
as ordinary com"oses the terrain for a subtraction from the conditions
of the situation This unnoticed condition, or rather, its samelessness
to the conditions #ithin the situation, com"oses its o#n invisibility, its
ine1istance Aithout the elements to name its di3erence, being
invisible to the regimes of intelligibility, these "rocedures go a#ay
from the situation com"osing infra"olitically the features of a state-
re"elling "erformativity These elements, a""earing as similar to the
status Buo, belong to themselves They are radically ne#, an e1cess
or deEciency from the stand"oint vie# of the state, o"erating #ithin
the <no#ledgeable situation, becoming a sedimentary or
accumulative force-form This accumulative force-form is the
o"eration of an anarchistory
But #hat is a subtractive "rocedureH Alain Badiou has said at a
conference on Pier Paolo PassoliniDs "oetry'
J 2 name subtraction the aQrmative "art of negation Ahen a ne#
artistic a1ioms are in no #ay deducible from the destruction of a
given system They are the aQrmative la#s of a ne# frame#or< for
the artistic activity The "oint that #e must understand is that this
ne# coherence is not ne# because it achieves the "rocess of
disintegration of the system The ne# coherence is ne# to the e1tent
that the artistic discourse becomes indi3erent to the systemDs la#s
That is #hy #e can say that the artistic discourse is subtracted from
its legislation +learly, this subtraction is in the hori4on of negation =
but it e1ists a"art from the "urely negative "art of negation 2t e1ists
a"art from destruction 2t is the same thing for *ar1 in the "olitical
conte1t *ar1 insists on saying that the destruction of the bourgeois
?tate is not in itself an achievement The goal is communism, that is
the end of the ?tate as such, and the end of social classes, in favour
of a "urely egalitarian organi4ation of the civil society But to come to
this, #e must Erst substitute to the bourgeois ?tate a ne# ?tate,
#hich is not the immediate result of the destruction of the Erst 2n
fact, it is a ?tate as di3erent of the bourgeois ?tate as a
contem"orary "erformance can be of an academic re"resentation of
&lym"ic Gods Por the ne# ?tate - that *ar1 names 0dictatorshi" of
the "roletariat0 - is a ?tate #hich organi4es its o#n vanishing, a ?tate
#hich is in its very essence the "rocess of the non-?tate ?o #e can
say that in the original thought of *ar1, 0dictatorshi" of the
"roletariat0 #as a name for a ?tate #hich is subtracted from all
classical la#s of a 0normal0 ?tate Por a classical ?tate is a form of
"o#er= but the ?tate named 0dictatorshi" of "roletariat0 is the "o#er
of un-"o#er, the "o#er of the disa""earance of the Buestion of "o#er
2n any case #e name subtraction this "art of negation #hich is
oriented by the "ossibility of something #hich e1ists absolutely a"art
from #hat e1ists under the la#s of #hat negation negates$
L
A subtractive "rocedure is #hat declares an ine1istence e1istent,
indi3erent to the norms of the state, and inde"endent of the
destruction of that same system
&n Aea"on of the Aea<, ?cott as<s on resistance' +an individual
acts such as theft or the murder of livestoc< be considered resistance
L
Alain Badiou, &n Pier Paolo Passolini, Graduate ?eminar - Art +enter +ollege of
)esign in Pasadena - Pebruary : ,--/, "ublished at Lacanian 2n<
even though they involve no collective action and do not o"enly
challenge the basic structure of "ro"erty and dominationH +an largely
symbolic acts such as boycotting feasts or defaming re"utations be
called resistance, although they a""ear to ma<e little or no dent in
the distribution of resourcesH$
:
2n the same sense, here, #e could as<
if could be "ossible to aQrm that acts such as the <ind of
"erformances that #e are signaling as #ithout E1ed abode can be
considered as "rocedures of resistance, even though they involve no
direct collective actionH These actions should be considered as
"rocedures through #hich the entire e"istemo"olitical structure is not
only critici4ed but abandoned By the subtractive "rocedures of loss,
friction and disa""earance, #hat these actions com"ose is a territory
of abandonment, #ithdra#al and instability They com"ose non-state
s"ace, a s"ace of anomie Through these "rocedures #e have a state-
re"elling methodology 2 argue that these <inds of "erformances,
these acts of art, these force-forms, develo" infra-"olitics activities,
#hich means that these "ractices com"ose a largely symbolic terrain
of resistance An anarchive of "rocedures
Talking to Myself IV. Concretized Ideas Ive Been Working Around I can no longer see discrete forms or
obects in art as viable reflections or e!"ressions of #$at seems to me to be going on in t$is society% T$ey
refer back to conditions of se"arateness& order& e!clusivity& and t$e stability of easily acce"ted functional
identities t$at no longer e!ist. 'or #$at a "osteriori seems to be t$is reason& t$e elimination of t$e discrete
form as art obect (including communications media obects) as a t$ing in itself& #it$ its isolated internal
relations$i"s and self*determining aest$etic standards& really interests me. Ive been doing "ieces t$e
significance and e!"erience of #$ic$ is defined as com"letely as "ossible by t$e vie#ers reaction and
inter"retation. Ideally t$e #ork $as no meaning or inde"endent e!istence outside of its function as a
:
>ames + ?cott, Aea"ons of the Aea<, (veryday forms of "easant resistance, "age
,9-
medium of c$ange. It e!ists only as a catalytic agent bet#een myself and t$e vie#er. (...) Making artificial
and non function at "lastic alterations in my o#n bodily "resence of t$e same kind as t$ose I formerly made
on inanimate or non art materials. +ere t$e art*making "rocess and end "roduct $as t$e immediacy of being
in t$e same time and s"ace continuum as t$e vie#er. T$is "rocess,"roduct is in a sense internalized in me&
because I e!ist simultaneously as t$e amid arid t$e #ork- I define t$e #ork as t$e vie#ers reaction to it.
T$e strongest& most com"le!& and most aest$etically interesting catalysis is t$e one t$at occurs in
uncategorized& undefined& non "ragmatic $uman confrontation. T$e immediacy of t$e artists "resence at art
#ork,catalysis confronts t$e vie#er #it$ a broader& more "o#erful& and more ambiguous situation t$an
discrete forms or obects. 'or e!am"le& Catalysis IV& in #$ic$ I dressed very conservatively but stuffed a
large #$ite bat$ to#el into t$e sides of my mout$ until my c$eeks bulged to about t#ice t$eir normal size&
letting t$e rest of it $ang do#n my front and riding t$e bus& sub#ay& and .m"ire /tate Building elevator-
0reserving t$e im"act and uncategorized nature of t$e confrontation. 1ot overly defining myself to vie#ers
as art#ork by "erforming any unusual or t$eatrical actions of any kind. T$ese actions tend to define t$e
situation in terms of t$e "re*establis$ed categories of 2guerrilla t$eater&2 2event&2 2$a""ening&2 2street
#ork&2 etc.& making disorientation and catalysis more difficult. (...) 'or t$e same reason I dont announce
most of t$ese #orks& as t$is immediately "roduces an audience* versus*"erformer se"aration and $as t$e
same effect "syc$ologically as a stage surrounded by ro#s of c$airs $as "$ysically. Art conte!ts "er se
(galleries& museums& "erformances. situations) are becoming increasingly un#orkable for me- t$ey are
being over#$elmed and infiltrated by bits and "ieces of ot$er disintegrating structures% "olitical& social&
"syc$ological& economic. T$ey "reserve t$e illusion of an identifiable& isolatable situation& muc$ as discrete
forms do& and t$us a "re*standardized set of res"onses. Because of t$eir establis$ed functional identities&
t$ey "re"are t$e vie#er to be catalyzed& t$us making actual catalysis im"ossible (rat$er t$an its more
comfortable illusion& #$ic$ consists of filling in t$e "articulars of an aest$etic e!"erience& t$e general
outlines of #$ic$ are "redetermined). Alternate conte!ts Ive been using include sub#ays& buses& Macys&
3nion /4uare& t$e Metro"olitan Museum of Art (as a s"ectator in Catalysis VII& in #$ic$ I #ent to t$e
2Before Cortes2 s$o# #$ile c$e#ing large #ads of bubble gum& blo#ing large bubbles& and allo#ing t$e
gum to ad$ere to my face)& and so on. .liminating as many decision*making ste"s& "rocedures& and controls
as "ossible. T$is $as a necessary "syc$ological function for me in t$at it decreases or eliminates t$e
se"aration bet#een original conce"tion and t$e final form of an idea- t$e immediacy of conce"tion is
retained in t$e "rocess,"roduct as muc$ as "ossible. 'or t$is reason I $ave no #ay of accounting for t$e
final form t$at an idea takes. It may be obected t$at all t$e ideas described above constitute decision*
making criteria& but in fact ust about everyt$ing Ive #ritten occurred to me a "osteriori& including t$e idea
e!"ressed in t$is "aragra"$. W$ic$ may mean its time to start doing somet$ing else. (Adrian 0i"er& Talking
to Myself& Autobiogra"$y of an Art 5bect& 6anuary 7897& on 6o$n 0. Bo#les& :ace& ;ender& .mbodiment&
<uke 3niversity 0ress& =>77.

Adrian Piper
Catalysis IV, 1971
<ocumentation of t$e "erformance ? black*and*#$ite "$otogra"$s& silver gelatin on baryta "a"er ("rints a""ro!.
788@) A>.B ! A>.B cm eac$& framed ?> ! ?7.@ cm eac$