Performance Drawing

<p>What is 'performance drawing'? When does a drawing turn into a performance? Is the act of drawing in itself a performative process whether a viewer is present or not? Through conversation interviews and essays the authors illuminate these questions and what it might mean to perform and what it might mean to draw in a diverse and expressive contemporary practice since 1945. <p/>The term 'performance drawing' first appeared in the subtitle of Catherine de Zegher's<i> Drawing Papers 20: Performance Drawings</i> in particular with reference to Alison Knowles and Elena del Rivero. In this book it is used as a trope and a thread of thinking to describe a process dedicated to broadening the field of drawing through resourceful practices and cross-disciplinary influence. <p/>Featuring a wide range of international artists this book presents pioneering practitioners alongside current and emerging artists. The combination of experiences and disciplines in the expanded field has established a vibrant art movement that has been progressively burgeoning in the last few years. The Introduction contextualises the background and identifies contemporary approaches to performance drawing. As a way to embrace the different voices and various lenses in producing this book the authors combine individual perspectives and critical methodology in the five chapters. <p/>While embedded in ephemerality and immediacy the themes encompass body and energy time and motion light and space imagined and observed demonstrating how drawing can act as a performative tool. The dynamic interaction leads to a collective understanding of the term performance drawing and addresses the key developments and future directions of this applied drawing process.</p>