Performance, Masculinity, and Self-Injury

Lucy Weir

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9781040118665
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: History of Art

This book is an ambitious and expansive examination of the visual language of self-injury in performance art from the 1960s to the present.

Inspired by the gendered nature of discussion around self-harm, the book challenges established readings of risk-taking and self-injury in global performance practice. The interdisciplinary methodology draws from art history and sociology to provide a new critical analysis of the relationship between masculinity and self-inflicted injury. Based upon interviews with a range of artists around the world, it offers an innovative understanding of the diverse meanings behind self-injury in performance, and delves into the gendered coding of self-harming bodies. Individual chapters examine the work of Ron Athey, Günter Brus, Wafaa Bilal, Franko B, André Stitt, Pyotr Pavlensky, and Yang Zhichao, offering a new perspective on the forms and functions of self-injury in performance art.

The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, performance studies, gender studies, and cultural studies.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Endorsement Page
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Notes on language
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Günter Brus
• 2 André Stitt
• 3 Ron Athey
• 4 Yang Zhichao
• 5 Wafaa Bilal
• 6 Pyotr Pavlensky
• Concluding Thoughts
• Bibliography
• Index