Politics of Performativity

Abstract

Politics and Performativity is an exploration of theatre’s ability to act as a tool for socio-political change. The foundations of this text will be laid upon the performance/exhibition Popaganda; the final, thesis project created by a team of students from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, opening for three days in September 2018 in an empty building in central Prague. Popaganda was a practical experiment which attempted to decipher which conditions might be necessary for a performative act to transform into a agent of socio-political change. Through considering key theories such as artistic activism, ethical spectacle and cognitive shock alongside the results of Popaganda, this text will aim to outline potential conditions for performativity to impact political change. Politics and Performativity will introduce the work of Popaganda and then consider three key elements of the performance; it’s content acquired through appropriation, the effect on the audience achieved through cognitive shock and its potential to effect change through a /consumer/product relationship. These focused topics will provide an opportunity to consider how Popaganda may have impacted some form of concrete change as well as how these elements may be improved and used in other conditions and situations of performativity.