Position:
I currently work as a Visiting Practitioner for the MA Performance: Design and Practice as well as an Academic Support Tutor across the Performance programme. This intervention plan is based on Live Art Practice Seminar, which I have led as part of the MA P:DP. The seminar is currently on pause, but I am proposing a revised and critically informed structure for its potential restart in September 2025.
Background:
Live Art Practice Seminar provides students with the opportunity to explore Live Art through its history, key terms, concepts, and influential artists. Students will enhance their critical skills by interrogating the works of significant artists as well as their own creations.
Challenge:
In addressing the history of Live Art and Performance Art, I have frequently drawn on Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present by RoseLee Goldberg, a foundational text by one of the most prominent American art historians in this field. While the book offers a well-informed and comprehensive overview of significant artists and movements, its perspective remains largely Euro-American. I recognise that this framing can inadvertently marginalise alternative histories, particularly those from non-Western contexts.
This presents an ongoing challenge. As international artists and educators working within predominantly Western institutions and economies, we are constantly navigating questions of positionality. How can we critically engage with the systems we are part of while remaining attentive to their exclusions? What responsibilities do we have in broadening the canon, and how do we model this for our students?
This reflection becomes even more pertinent given the demographic of the seminar group, where approximately 80% of the students identify as East Asian. The group is also diverse in terms of disciplinary background and artistic interests. This raises important pedagogical questions: What should be taught in a Live Art seminar in a globalised, multicultural educational setting? How can we create space for students to critically examine their own positionalities while challenging the dominance of Western narratives in contemporary art discourse?
Potential Intervention Plan:
Diverse teaching materials – Rather than relying solely on canonical performance art histories, I intend to introduce a wider range of inclusive and globally diverse references. The seminar will prioritise a discussion-based format over traditional lecture delivery, allowing students to critically engage with the material through dialogue.
To support students in critically examining their own positions as artists, I have already embedded a workshop focused on self-reflection and artistic identity. While participation is not framed around cultural self-disclosure, I am considering an additional workshop that more explicitly explores identity through the lens of intersectionality. It draws on case studies of artists whose practices reflect layered identities and social positions, offering students tools to reflect on how their own contexts inform their work.
Hi Yui
I hope that you are well. Thank you for sharing your seminar idea for the intervention. There are many positive aspects here but your thoughtful reflection and critical approach really stand out. The proposal balances personal insight, pedagogical reflection, and critical theory to reimagine the Live Art Practice Seminar by including more globally diverse references and student-led discussion to challenge the narrowness of canonical histories. This demonstrates your understanding of your field and practices of exclusion (e.g. your critical engagement with Goldberg’s text as both a resource and a site of tension), which links well to LO1 and LO2, but going forward, perhaps you could consider how your intervention is situated within UAL and sector (Advance HE) guidance/frameworks on inclusive practices and decolonisation (LO1) and draw a bit more on the literature and relevant to demonstrate LO2. For example, you may also want to consider UAL’s Zine project Decolonising the Arts Curriculum: Perspectives on Higher Education. [Zine project]. You may need to scroll down a bit https://decolonisingtheartscurriculum.myblog.arts.ac.uk/
The demographic detail you provide adds urgency to your intervention (i.e. 80% East Asian students navigating a Euro-American canon), because it’s not just about representation but also relevance. You could start by reframing the seminar from ‘a history of’ to a ‘histories of/with’ approach, focusing on dialogue and multiplicity, as you’re already suggesting a discussion-based format, perhaps inviting students to ‘write back’ Goldberg, what’s missing, what resonates, what feels alienating? Or you could set a pre/follow up task where students can share their own references (via Miro or Padlet), reflecting their own cultural or disciplinary heritage/positionality without the need for self-disclosure. This would also address the question of who decides what diversity looks like and the content you present is not ‘curated’ content, but a space for discussion through the lens of intersectionality/decoloniality. This relates to LO3 in terms of your own positionality, which comes across very clearly. You could also discuss how your dual roles (visiting practitioner and academic support tutor) shape your approach to facilitation -and how you may be seen by students. Building a ‘diverse reference bank’ with students’ contributions would also make this more sustainable and inclusive (LO4) while creating an opportunity to construct counter-canons or parallel narratives.
I hope this helps. Regards, Victor
Below, just a reminder of the learning outcomes.
LO1: Critically evaluate institutional, national and global perspectives of equality and diversity in relation to your academic practice context. [Enquiry]
LO2: Manifest your understanding of practices of inequity, their impact, and the implications for your professional context. [Knowledge]
LO3: Articulate the development of your positionality and identity through the lens of inclusive practices. [Communication]
LO4: Enact a sustainable transformation that applies intersectional social justice within your practice. [Realisation]