Toward a Taxonomy of Performance Drawing

Abstract

This thesis formulates a taxonomic framework for performance drawing in order to explore the potential, processes, scope, and position of the practice. Performance drawing is examined using a practice-led methodology through execution, reflection on, and analysis of, performance events, exhibitions, video, and documentation. The core elements of the act of drawing, the role of the spectator or witness, the experiential or phenomenological dimension, and exchange are identified and analysed to establish the defining characteristics of performance drawing and to highlight its potential to enhance human consciousness. Performance drawing is posited as an interdisciplinary practice that favours the sociability and temporality of performance over the singularity and solitude of the artist and viewer that has been conceptualised in traditional drawing practice.