[artinfo] STIP: PhD Scholarship Aberdeen

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Amy Bryzgel <a.bryzgel at abdn.ac.uk>
Date: Apr 15, 2014
Subject: STIP: PhD Scholarship Aberdeen

Application deadline: Jun 6, 2014

PhD Title: Documenting Performance Art in Central 
and Eastern Europe, c. 1960-1989

Elphinstone PhD Scholarship: This scholarship 
covers the entirety of tuition fees for a PhD 
student of any nationality commencing full-time 
study in October 2014, for the three-year 
duration of their studies.

This project takes as its focus the documentation 
and dissemination of performance art from the 
former communist and socialist countries of 
Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, from the 
period of c. 1960-1989. Performance art in the 
West emerged as a self-conscious genre, and a 
deliberate alternative to the production of 
painting and sculpture for display in the gallery 
space. However, in Eastern Europe, artists such 
as JiÞí Kovanda (Czechoslovakia), Andris 
Gr¥nbergs (Latvia), and Ion Grigorescu (Romania) 
often created performance art for a select group 
of friends and colleagues, and even sometimes 
only for themselves. If in the West, 
documentation was often an essential component of 
performance art, and necessary to exhibit the 
work in the gallery, in the East, the recording 
of performances, by video or photography, was 
more haphazard. At times, artists were intent on 
documenting their work for posterity, in the hope 
that someday, somewhere (outside of the 
totalitarian regime) it would have an audience. 
At others, photographs were taken simply as a 
record, without any thought that they would ever 
be seen.

While Peggy Phelan (1998) has argued that the 
documentation of a performance can in no way 
serve as a substitute for having witnessed it, 
this PhD project will seek to challenge that 
contention by nuancing understandings of the 
documentation of performance art in the Soviet 
bloc during the Cold War era. By examining the 
function of the recording and (after regime 
change at the end of the 1980s) dissemination of 
the work on the understanding and reception of 
performance art in the region, the study will 
explore what it means to document these ephemeral 
works merely as evidence that they occurred, 
instead of as an art object in its own right. How 
does this change the function of the photograph 
or video and its status as an art object? How 
does it change the relationship between 
performance and audience, and with what 
consequences? Projects that employ a comparative 
method, engaging several countries across Eastern 
Europe, are particularly welcome.

Supervisor 1 - Dr Amy Bryzgel
Supervisor 2 - Professor Edward Welch

How to Apply:

To apply for an Elphinstone PhD Scholarship, you 
should apply for a PhD place in the normal way: 
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/apply.php, 
stating:
- 'Elphinstone PhD Scholarship' in the Intended Source of Funding section
- The name of the lead supervisor in the Name of Proposed Supervisor section
- The title of the specific research project in 
the Outline Summary section  Candidates should 
simultaneously register their desire to be 
considered by emailing the Graduate School 
Administrator, Ann Marie Johnston, at 
a.m.johnston at abdn.ac.uk.
The date by which the above should be undertaken 
is Friday 6 June 2014.  Selection will be made on 
the basis of academic merit.

More information on this project:
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/cass/graduate/history-of-art-338.php

More information on Elphinstone PhD Scholarships: 
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/cass/graduate/elphinstone-phd-scholarships-329.php

Reference / Quellennachweis:
STIP: PhD Scholarship Aberdeen. In: H-ArtHist, 
Apr 15, 2014. <http://arthist.net/archive/7463>.

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