Trashing Performance

Trashing Performance (2010-2011) explored the power of creative expressions that wilfully debunk or ignore cultural ideals and hierarchies of critical value. It presented and investigated art and culture often considered too left-field by the proprieties of high minded and elite taste. The programme of events provided a space to think again about the value of irreverent and sometimes overlooked performance practices in public exchanges between different performance audiences and artists, academics, activists, and curators.

Trashing Performance asked what is at stake in calling something or someone ‘trash’, and explored the cultural histories which inform the value of ‘trashy-ness’ in contemporary practice. It explored how some performance artists risk high seriousness by embracing ‘cheap’ aesthetics and popular forms, and considered how underground and avant-garde performers have sometimes made a virtue out of producing work beyond the critical pale.

The aim of Trashing Performance was not merely to reflect upon a particular performance style, but to open up broader ethical and political questions about the role of performance in the production of the contemporary public sphere.

Documentation of the Trashing Performance Public Programme (Oct 2011) is available for viewing at the Live Art Development Agency's Study Room and at the British Library.