Afterall Issue 3 Explores Performance and Performativity in Contemporary Art

Afterall Journal Issue 3, published June 2001 and edited by Charles Esche and Mark Lewis, examines the expansion of performance and performativity beyond traditional theatre into social conditions and visual art. The issue draws on theories from Robert Crease, Judith Butler, and Hannah Arendt to argue that performance has become a key site for artistic experimentation, particularly through video and digital media. Artists featured include Hilary Lloyd, Uri Tzaig, Juan Cruz, Ceal Floyer, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Karen Kilimnik. Contextual essays by Andreas Spiegl and Bert O. States (republished from Theatre Journal) explore theatricality in everyday life and performance as metaphor. The issue highlights how video cameras, as seen in Lloyd's work and shows like 'You've Been Framed', theatricalize the everyday. Kilimnik's installations question the artist's centrality, while Antonioni's cinematic silence is compared to contemporary art. The editors conclude with a quote from Roland Barthes on criticism as an activity.