AVANT-GARDES IN PERFORMANCE PRESERVATION, RADICALISM, AND THE AVANT-GARDE CANON EDITED BY REBECCA FERREBOEUF, FIONA NOBLE, AND TARA PLUNKETT Preservation, Radicalism, and the Avant-Garde Canon Avant-GardesinPerformance SeriesEditors SarahBay-Cheng,UniversityatBuffalo,TheStateUniversityofNewYork MartinHarries,UniversityofCalifornia,Irvine MediaParasitesintheEarlyAvant-Garde:OntheAbuseofTechnologyand Communication ByArndtNiebisch Avant-GardeTheatreSound:StagingSonicModernity ByAdrianCurtin Entr’acte:PerformingPublics,PervasiveMedia,andArchitecture EditedbyJordanGeiger Preservation,RadicalismandtheAvant-GardeCanon EditedbyRebeccaFerreboeuf,FionaNoble,andTaraPlunkett Preservation, Radicalism, and the Avant-Garde Canon Editedby RebeccaFerreboeuf,FionaNoble,TaraPlunkett Palgrave macmillan PRESERVATION,RADICALISM,ANDTHEAVANT-GARDECANON Copyright©RebeccaFerreboeuf,FionaNoble,TaraPlunkett2016. Softcoverreprintofthehardcover1stedition2016978-1-137-47930-3 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission.Noportionofthis publicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmittedsavewithwritten permission.InaccordancewiththeprovisionsoftheCopyright,Designs andPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicencepermittinglimited copyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency,SaffronHouse, 6-10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Firstpublished2016by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN Theauthorshaveassertedtheirrightstobeidentifiedastheauthorsofthis workinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills, Basingstoke,Hampshire,RG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofNatureAmerica,Inc.,One NewYorkPlaza,Suite4500,NewYork,NY10004-1562. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. ISBN978-1-349-69366-5 E-PDFISBN:978–1–137–47437–7 DOI:10.1057/9781137474377 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Preservation,radicalism,andtheavant-gardecanon/Editedby RebeccaFerreboeuf,FionaNoble,TaraPlunkett. pages cm.—(Avant-gardesinperformance) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. 1. Arts—Experimentalmethods. I. Ferreboeuf,Rebecca,1985–editor. II. Noble,Fiona,1985–editor. III. Plunkett,Tara,1983–editor. NX175.P752016 700(cid:2).411—dc23 2015031247 AcataloguerecordforthebookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. Contents ListofFigures vii Foreword ix Acknowledgments xi I StagingTheAvant-Gardes 1 ExquisiteEncounterswiththeAvant-Gardes 3 RebeccaFerreboeuf,FionaNoble,TaraPlunkett 2 TellingtheTellingoftheTale:ADialogue 13 JamesM.HardingandMikeSell II CuratingTheAvant-Gardes 3 ExpandedCinema:CuratingProblems 35 JulianRoss 4 AnActiveEncounter:TamásSt.Turba’sCzechoslovakia Radio1968andAvant-GardeObjectsinContemporary Contexts 51 CiaraHickey III OntheMarginsoftheAvant-Gardes 5 Arnauld’sPoèmesàClaires-Voies(OpenworkPoems) 71 RuthHemus 6 FirminGémier,TheForgottenAvant-GardePopulist 87 KimberlyJannarone 7 RemediosVaro’sFeminine,SpiritualQuest 111 RickiO’Rawe IV RereadingtheAvant-Garde 8 ReframingtheReal:Duchamp’sReadymadeasa LacanianObject 133 RobertKilroy vi CONTENTS 9 PreservingLifeForce:AntoninArtaudandZhuangzion theBody 153 AmyLiXiaofan 10 LeeMiller’sDialogueswiththeAvant-Garde 171 PatriciaAllmer V CategorizingtheAvant-Gardes 11 ReadingTsangTsouChoi:Margin,Madness,anda HongKongAvant-Garde 191 SimonSoon 12 ActinginFrontoftheCamera:Avant-GardeApproaches toStagedPhotography 215 PrzemysławStroz˙ek 13 FilmsfortheDrawer:PostwarCzechSurrealismandthe ImpossibleEncounterwithCinema 233 JonathanOwen VI ClosingtheCurtainontheAvant-Gardes? Epilogue:TheTaleIsTold? 253 JohnMcCulloch Bibliography 263 NotesonContributors 269 Index 273 Figures 3.1 WhiteCalligraphyRe-Read (1967/2010)attheWindow Gallery.Videostillfromdocumentationofthe performance.CourtesyoftheartistandDamienSanville. 40 3.2 CircleandSquare(1982).Photodocumentationof eventatMillennium,NewYork.Courtesyoftheartist. 42 4.1 CzechoslovakiaRadio1968.Brick,sulfurplate. PhotographbyTamásSt.Auby.©IPUTNPU-Archives. 52 4.2 CzechoslovakiaRadio1968.InstalledatPS2.Imageby andcourtesyofJordanHutchings. 54 4.3 TamásSt.TurbainConversationatPS2,6February 2014.ImagebyandcourtesyofMichaelO’Halloran. 56 4.4 FlyerfortheCzechoslovakiaRadio1968FanClub Meeting.ImagebyandcourtesyofRuthClintonand NiamhMoriarty. 57 4.5 JamRezistenceinA,PerformanceatPS2.Imagebyand courtesyofJordanHutchings. 58 4.6 ColmClarke,“OOO,”2014.CourtesyofJordanHutchings. 60 10.1 LeeMiller,untitled,collageincludingEileenAgarand DoraMaar,1937.©LeeMillerArchives,England 2015.Allrightsreserved. 173 10.2 EileenAgar(1899–1991)HappyBreakfast,1937(oil oncanvas)—TheSherwinCollection,Leeds, UK—EstateofEileenAgar—BridgemanImages. 180 This page intentionally left blank Foreword Despite the many acts of denial and resistance embodied in the phrase “deathoftheavant-garde,”interestinexperimental,innovative,andpolit- icallyradicalperformancescontinuestoanimatetheaterandperformance studies.Forallthesufferedattacksupontraditionandcriticalinstitutions (orperhapsbecauseofthem),thehistoricalandsubsequentavant-gardes remain critical touchstones for continued research across media and disciplines.Weare,itseems,perpetuallyinvestedinthenew. Avant-Gardes in Performance enables scholarship at the forefront of criticalanalysis:scholarshipthatnotonlyilluminatesradicalperformance practices,butalsotransformsexistingcriticalapproachestothoseperfor- mances. By engaging with the charged phrase “avant-garde,” the series considersperformancepracticesandeventsthatareformallyavant-garde, as defined by experimentation, and breaks with traditional structures, practices,andcontent;historicallyavant-garde,definedwithintheglobal aesthetic movements of the early twentieth century, including mod- ernism and its many global aftermaths; and politically radical, defined by identification with extreme political movements on the right and left alike. The coeditors of Preservation, Radicalism and the Avant-Garde Canon compellinglydemonstratehowproductivenewcriticalapproachestothe avant-gardes can be, and what can be gained from a more expansive understanding of what constitutes the avant-garde within global, dis- persed phenomena. As we encounter what Tara McPherson has labeled “the archival turn,” this collection’s emphasis on curation, preservation, and documentation of radical movements addresses the need to rethink and revise the existing historiographies in what Mike Sell calls, “critical vanguardstudies.”Howdowenegotiatestrategiesofpreservationamong movements designed to undermine the very institutions that established cultural archives? How can scholars and artists work within a canon withoutreifyingtheoftenimperialistandhegemonicdiscoursesonwhich canonformationdepends?