'in the sound of the photograph: childless mother.
I want to discover a performance by way of the ongoing production of a performance.'
A US import from Cassandra Press, this lo-fi, softbound reader compiles texts on the theme of performativity, including:
- "Black Mo’nin’" (2003) by Fred Moten, an essay forming part of a larger collection of writings by Moten on the performance and performativity of "blackness";
- "The Rough Theatre" from The Empty Space (1968), a book by Peter Brook exploring developments in theatre from the last century, as well as smaller scale events, from productions by Stanislavsky to the rise of Method Acting, from Brecht's revolutionary alienation technique to the free form Happenings of the 1960s;
- "Producing Deviants: Black Women, Crime, and Capitalism in Reconstruction America" (2015) by Femmesurrection, a US-based artist and historian working on the intersections of labor, gender, sexuality, and violence within the African Diaspora.
Also in this volume: Alexander G. Weheliye, Karen Barad and José Esteban Muñoz
Operating out of Los Angeles, California, Cassandra Press was founded in 2016 by artist Kandis Williams. “Our intention," a statement on the Cassandra Press website explains, "is to spread ideas, distribute new language, propagate dialogue-centering ethics, aesthetics, femme-driven activism, and black scholarship, because y’all ain’t listening.”
