Grundlagen des Performativen: Körper als Methode

Peter Kozek
Institute of Fine Arts and Media Art, Art & Science
2026W, artistic Seminar (SEK), 1.0 ECTS, 1.0 semester hours, course number S40716

Description

Fundamentals of the Performative: Body as Method

This one-hour course introduces students in the Art and Science department to key concepts of embodiment and explores how the body itself can be understood as a vehicle for cognition, expression and action. The starting point is the question of how performative strategies and frameworks expand and transform both artistic and scientific processes.

The focus is on fundamental concepts of performance and the performative, as well as initial practical and theoretical approaches to body-based practice. Students gain insights into how presence, movement and situational embodiment can function as independent forms of knowledge.

The course does not view the body as a medium in the service of a result, but as an active site of the production of meaning, experience and knowledge. This opens up fundamental perspectives for further performative and interdisciplinary work in the field of Art and Science.

Examination Modalities

Active participation in the lecture, practical exercises, discussions and feedback sessions.

Comments

This course views physicality as a multifaceted form of knowledge production, thereby opening up gender-, diversity- and queer-sensitive perspectives on artistic and academic practice. It challenges normative notions of the body, identity and agency through performative and embodied approaches.

As part of the course, students will have the opportunity to gain initial or further practical experience with performance.

The possibilities for creating and staging performative works at the end of the semester will also be discussed in a group session.

Venue: APL Studio, Georg-Coch-Platz 2, Mezzanine, 1010 Vienna

Key Words

Körper, Improvisation, Research, installation, object sculpture, environment, architecture, video, discussion, process art, art in public space, performance, associated Concepts

Dates

Tue, 06 October 2026, 10:30–10:45 Seminar Room Art & Science (preliminary discussion)
Thu, 19 November 2026, 12:00–15:00 APL - Applied Performance Lab, GCP
Thu, 03 December 2026, 12:00–15:00 APL - Applied Performance Lab, GCP
Thu, 10 December 2026, 12:00–15:00 APL - Applied Performance Lab, GCP

Course Enrolment

From 31 August 2026, 09:00 to 16 November 2026, 00:00
Via online registration

Art & Science (Master): Methods and Practices of Transdisciplinary Research: Practice and Theory 776/2026UMA-002.16

Co-registration: not possible

Attending individual courses: not possible