As a performance artist, I have experienced a strong synergy connecting performance artists, the work they make, the network they create and inhabit, and the trust that binds them together. I wanted to discover how that network operated. Therefore, this doctoral research project focuses on the question, “What is the operation of the global performance art network? ” Network theory forms the overarching theoretical framework, with the additional concepts of trust, community, social capital, and performance art playing a key part in the analysis. With no known research into the global performance art network to date, the research will contribute to theory development and practical perspectives in relation to performance art.
In addressing the research question, I acknowledge my personal ontology and self-interest in the subject matter. This duality of researcher / participant has allowed for a conscious ethnographic approach to this research. I have adopted a pragmatist paradigm in approaching this research question, which encourages a mixed methods strategy, combining quantitative and qualitative research methods, allowing for triangulation of data.