Overview

This book deals with the broader theoretical and philosophical context of performance art in former Yugoslavia, focusing on more than three decades of politically engaged performance activity of the Montažstroj group. Their activity is only a starting point for a deeper analysis of some of the key notions of contemporary “art-ivism” in a much broader post-political and globalized context before, during, and after Yugoslavia and its Socialist paradigm collapsed. The author analyzes and sets notions of agonism, engagement, terrorism, post-war trauma, political populism, social Darwinism, participation and publicness, and the public sphere into different theoretical matrixes.

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9781666921175

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Reviews

Leo Rafolt's book confronts us with the necessity of writing and performing theory in a time of permanent global crisis, pandemics, war conflicts, terrorism, economic fractures, and public broken narratives. The starting points are in performance studies and applications to real life forms. The author constantly provokes his reader, and interprets, transgresses, and reveals potential traps, gives answers, and turns answers into challenges of performativity. -- Miodrag Šuvaković, Singidunum University Rafolt’s book is an excellent insight in cultural theory and performance relations, open to anyone interested in performance studies, and interdisciplinary research in art, since the author, in the manner of Hal Foster, seeks to give the ethnographic method a kind of licentia hermeneutica, the right to interpret the performing art. -- Suzana Marjanić, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research Rafolt’s inspired, theoretically grounded, and detailed analyses represent a significant contribution to performance studies, as well as to the analysis of interconnections between emancipatory regimes in arts and society as such and will be therefore read both for their depth of insights and for the wealth of information they provide. -- Zoran Milutinović, University College London Rafolt’s latest book has every reason to become an academic classic, in theatre and performance studies, cultural studies, as well as Slavic studies. It is a well-written, heavily documented, and theoretically grounded analysis of the contemporary world performatively structured on two dogmas—the free market and liberal democracy. Rafolt weaves a critical tale based on an analysis of the performative production of the internationally renowned group Montažstroj. -- Maciej Falski, University of Warsaw This monograph captures those elusive folds of performance-with-resistance, reading them against the backscreen of Eastern European and Pan-European political and intellectual histories. It uses a long-standing project to showcase an intricate and fascinating theoretical analysis of performing practices as they play with, within, and against, violent capitalist modernities. Students and scholars across the overlapping fields of performance studies, dance studies, post-communist studies, queer studies, European studies, and those familiar with various left-wing traditions of critical theory and intellectual history, will find this book to be an elucidating and inspiring contribution to their respective fields. -- Aljoša Pužar, University of Ljubljana

Leo Rafolt's book confronts us with the necessity of writing and performing theory in a time of permanent global crisis, pandemics, war conflicts, terrorism, economic fractures, and public broken narratives. The starting points are in performance studies and applications to real life forms. The author constantly provokes his reader, and interprets, transgresses, and reveals potential traps, gives answers, and turns answers into challenges of performativity. -- Miodrag Suvakovic, Singidunum University Rafolt's book is an excellent insight in cultural theory and performance relations, open to anyone interested in performance studies, and interdisciplinary research in art, since the author, in the manner of Hal Foster, seeks to give the ethnographic method a kind of licentia hermeneutica, the right to interpret the performing art. -- Suzana Marjanic, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research Rafolt's inspired, theoretically grounded, and detailed analyses represent a significant contribution to performance studies, as well as to the analysis of interconnections between emancipatory regimes in arts and society as such and will be therefore read both for their depth of insights and for the wealth of information they provide. -- Zoran Milutinovic, University College London Rafolt's latest book has every reason to become an academic classic, in theatre and performance studies, cultural studies, as well as Slavic studies. It is a well-written, heavily documented, and theoretically grounded analysis of the contemporary world performatively structured on two dogmas-the free market and liberal democracy. Rafolt weaves a critical tale based on an analysis of the performative production of the internationally renowned group Montazstroj. -- Maciej Falski, University of Warsaw This monograph captures those elusive folds of performance-with-resistance, reading them against the backscreen of Eastern European and Pan-European political and intellectual histories. It uses a long-standing project to showcase an intricate and fascinating theoretical analysis of performing practices as they play with, within, and against, violent capitalist modernities. Students and scholars across the overlapping fields of performance studies, dance studies, post-communist studies, queer studies, European studies, and those familiar with various left-wing traditions of critical theory and intellectual history, will find this book to be an elucidating and inspiring contribution to their respective fields. -- Aljosa Puzar, University of Ljubljana

Author Information

Leo Rafolt teaches performance studies, cultural theory, and theoretical dramaturgy as a full professor at the Academy of Arts and Culture of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Croatia.

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