Performance at Tate: Into the Space of Art has attempted to not only map a history of performance at Tate but also express a new understanding of performance and its place in the history of modern and contemporary art. Seen from within the context of a leading art museum that stages new and historical performances, displays performance-related materials and documents, and reflects the impact of the performative in its displays of modern and contemporary art, the ontological distinctions between different categories of art that had once riven the field of performance studies no longer seem so compelling. The publication’s analysis of how works operate and focus on the questions they pose rather than on their medium have allowed the commonalities and shared origins of seemingly markedly different types of artworks to become more visible. Performance is now seen at Tate as one of many strategies open to modern and contemporary artists rather than a separate or siloed category of art.
We are deeply grateful to all those who assisted in the work of developing this research publication. Particular thanks are owed to Professor Gabriella Giannachi from the Department of English at the University of Exeter, who served as the Principal Investigator of the two-year research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (‘Collecting, Archiving and Sharing Performance and the Performative’), from which this publication has arisen. Her personal commitment to the project led to the success of the initial funding application and we are extremely grateful for her dedicated leadership of the project. Thanks must also go to Catherine Wood, Senior Curator, International Art (Performance), who as fellow Co-Investigator on the project helped steer it into new territory, bringing her unparalleled programming experience and deep knowledge of performance practice to bear on the intellectual development of the project’s aims. On behalf of my fellow project organisers I should also like to express our gratitude and admiration for Dr Jonah Westerman, AHRC Research Associate, who developed genuinely new ways of thinking about performance during his two years at Tate and proved a generous and inspiring colleague; in large part this publication represents the fruits of his scholarship and dedication to the project. I should also like to thank warmly the members of the Academic Advisory Board who helped frame the project at its outset: Professor Claire Bishop, Professor Adrian Heathfield, Professor Katja Kwastek and Professor Ross Parry.
Acatia Finbow, a collaborative doctoral student at the University of Exeter and Tate, wrote many of the case studies in this publication and contributed in many ways to the development and delivery of the project. I should like to express my thanks, too, to Philomena Epps, Clare Gormley, Capucine Perrot and Alex Taylor, whose case studies on individual works in the collection and events at Tate have allowed us to both broaden and deepen our understanding of performance and its historical connections to the museum. The project would not be what it is without the significant contributions of all these individuals, and the support provided by research assistants, in particular Denise Petzold.
Within the Tate Research project team a great debt is owed to Christopher Griffin, Collection Research Manager, for managing the project for several months. I am grateful, too, to Amy Tobin for editing the case studies, and especially to Susannah Worth (Digital Editor, Research) for managing the production of this multi-layered publication, using new software, with such skill and dedication; it was not an easy task. Thanks are also due to Alex Cary, former Digital Editor, and to those who assisted the project team in various capacities, particularly Mark Byers, Polly Chiapetta, Maud Whatley and Celia White.
Such a complex project could not have been achieved without the support and professionalism of colleagues in a range of other departments at Tate. Within the curatorial team special thanks are owed to Achim Borchardt-Hume, Matthew Gale, Isabella Maidment, Fiontán Moran, Frances Morris, Capucine Perrot (who prepared invaluable initial listings) and Valentina Ravaglia. The Tate Library, Archive and Public Records teams also played a crucial role in ensuring the success of the project, and I would like to express my thanks here to Christopher Bastock, Lisa Cole, Adrian Glew, Victoria Jenkins and Jane Kennedy. As with all our online research publications, we are deeply grateful for the skilled contributions made by many members of the Tate Digital team, especially Fionnuala Cavanagh, Emily Fildes, Sebastien François, Fiona Hodge, Tim Miles-Board, Liam Palmer, Zsolt Nemeth, Alex Pilcher, John Stack (an early consultant in the research project), Tijana Tasich and Charles Tomlinson. Within the Digital Content team thanks must also go to Susan Doyon, Maria Kennedy and Jack O’Halloran for helping us to produce a film as well as interactive interpretation in the galleries at Tate Modern. Thanks are also owed to Ailsa Roberts, Research Manager, and to Pip Laurenson, Head of Collection Care Research, for their guidance and support, and special mention should be made of Judith Bowdler and Sandra Sykorova.
The project would not have been so wide reaching without discussions with many artists, curators and scholars, including and especially Tarek Atoui, Charles Aubin, Lorenzo Benedetti, Christiane Berndes, Philip Bither, Stuart Brisley, Pablo Bronstein, Tania Bruguera, Boris Charmatz and Musée de la Danse, Stuart Comer, Eric Crosby, Robin Dowden, Michelle Elligot, Annie Fletcher, RoseLee Goldberg, Tim Griffin, Thomas Lax, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Ana Janevski, Joan Jonas, Suzanne Lacy, Fionn Meade, Glenn Phillips, Jay Sanders, Louise Schaefer, Cally Spooner, Peter Tolmie, Dorothea von Hantelmann and Gaby Wijers. We are deeply indebted to all these individuals for sharing their expertise in both formal and informal capacities, and for the generosity they have all shown towards the project and its outcomes.
Finally, this publication and the broader research project would not have been possible without the generous support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). As a designated Independent Research Organisation, Tate is particularly grateful to the AHRC for its encouragement of fruitful collaborations between the museum and university sectors, such as this has proved to be.
Jennifer Mundy
Head of Collection Research, Tate