Radical Humanity: Performance and Social Activism

In this course we will cover the history of performance art and the dynamic power of activism; we will focus primarily on the collaborative creation of performance infused with a social conscience.  Content will range from political science to women and gender studies to civil rights.  Looking at art-making through the eyes of pivotal historical figures in addition to contemporary artists, we will gather techniques to develop solo and group performances. Readings, films, journal writing, and studio research will be an integral part of this highly experiential class. ART WTR (MCCC)

Harlequin is one of the classic zanni servant characters from Italian commedia dell’arte.  He has been a figure of fascination to me since I first discovered him depicted in Modernist paintings during an art history class my freshman year in college.  He has recently reemerged as an alter ego of sorts in new performance-based work that I began experimenting with while in the VCFA program.  Harlequinade is a British comic theatrical genre developed in the 17th century.  It features many of the traditional commedia dell’arte stock characters.  In this form, though, Harlequin acquired a more dignified, central narrative role, typically playing opposite the newer comic foil of clown.  These performances evolved into pantomime over time, “robbing” Harlequin of his voice.  These Harlequinades stand as symbolic demands to give Harlequin back his voice and liberate him from his silence.  They are also a gesture of solidarity with current social justice movements and play with complex notions of the role of the artist—and my own— in contemporary society.

On March 23, Governor Tom Wolf, instituted stay-at-home orders for Pennsylvania counties hit hardest by the accelerating coronavirus pandemic.  Allegheny, the county in which I live with my family, was one of those affected.  We had already been living in relative isolation for ten days since the closing of my kids’ school, but this new measure marked the beginning of a ten-week period during which I had little or no contact with people outside my immediate family and only ventured out of the house for groceries, essentials, and welcome bouts of exercise.  I was lucky to be able to go to my studio, where I could work alone safely; but I needed an escape while at home from the stress and anxiety of home-schooling and too close quarters.  As a way to fill the seemingly endless hours of tedium and blow off some steam, I took on a long-contemplated project to transform the lifeless strip of mud and clay between my sidewalk and our road into something more presentable.  I had an idea that if I created a number of distinct stone buffers within the berm—Pennsylvania’s term for the median or road verge—that people would choose to park by those spaces and wouldn’t trample on the plants I hoped to put in.  I found a stache of old Belgian block not too far away and spent the next six weeks hauling and placing the heavy stones by hand.  It was hard, gratifying work and proved to be a cathartic and creative way to cope with the crisis and its tensions.  It was pure and elemental and just what I needed.  My theory about influencing drivers’ behaviors also proved accurate, as I quickly discovered that people were indeed using the buffers to park and leaving my landscaping well enough alone.  My little project had brought comfort, beauty, and relief in a time of wild uncertainty.

Subjugation, Discrimination and Political Transformation

Our goal, in this course, is twofold.  First, to identify different ways in which members of a community can be subjugated and marginalized.  Second, to ask ourselves what kind of ethical and strategic considerations should inform our response to instances of subjugation and discrimination, if our primary concern is that our actions be at once faithful to the values that we stand for and politically efficacious.  We will study works by Simone Weil, Michel Foucault, Martin Luther King Jr., Primo Levi, Simone de Beauvoir, Charles W. Mills, and Epictetus among others.  We will also use films and press articles as material for case studies. (Previous Philosophy class or waiver) 3 hrs. sem. PHL (MCCC)

I moved back to my hometown, Pittsburgh, in 2017.  I had been living in New York City since 2008, but I visited home often and stayed involved here as best I could.  When I returned, I tried to reacquaint myself with the city on bike rides and trips to various neighborhoods around town.  On one of these outings, I found myself in Larimer.

Larimer is one of Pittsburgh’s poorest and most challenged neighborhoods.*  Known as Pittsburgh’s Little Italy until the 1960’s, the community’s population is now primarily African-American.  Once “urban redevelopment” and White flight had begun to change the character of the neighborhood, a half-century of disinvestment and racially-biased neglect has transformed its once bustling streets into a ghost town.  750 lots in Larimer sit empty or carry vacant homes—nearly 42% of the buildings and land.  This is not some isolated or obscure area of the city.  Its borders are shared by three of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city.  Google—whose technology allowed me to capture these images—houses its Pittsburgh offices in a new development in Larimer's southern end.  But, if you head further into the empty heart of the community—north and to the east, where the Black residents live—the city has been erased.  It is uncanny.  It is a prairie town in the middle of this “Most Livable City.”† (HJS)

(*Luckily, Larimer has such tireless champions and advocates as Miss Donna and Miss Betty making headway to turn things around for the neighborhood, fighting for new housing and development initiatives to benefit locals and not just real estate speculators.)

(† Pittsburgh has been regularly named or won top honors as a “Most Livable City” according to The Global Liveability Index.)