Performancemania

Monograph; Hayley Newman (introduction by Aaron Williamson)
Published: Matt’s Gallery, London
Pages 96, Binding softback, Illustration 58 colour, 17 b&w plates,
Dimensions 255mm x 210mm, ISBN 0 907623379
Design: Phil Baines Studio

This monograph presents selected performance works made between 1994 and 2001. Actual and fictional performance works are published alongside each other. The book includes Research Output 1 - Connotations Performance Images 1994-1998 (1998).

In his introduction, Aaron Williamson writes that by titling the book Performancemania the author reveals herself as; ‘a long standing enthusiast, or fan, of what she considers to be a genuinely revolutionary moment in art, namely European performance art of the 60s and 70s’. This theme of fandom continues throughout the publication, which is reflexive, visibly modelling itself on the traditional artist’s monograph.

The latter half of the book contains an edited version of a self-interview, extracted from my unpublished doctoral thesis; Locating Performance: Textual Identity and the Performative (University of Leeds, 2001). The self-interview identifies itself as a performance and points to ‘the interview’ as a structure with both a temporal and physical location beyond the page.

The book presents 24 actual performance works alongside 21 fictional ones. Works are presented as images with accompanying texts. Fictional works are embedded in the book, distinguished by the colour of the page and an inverse positioning of image and text.

I am currently represented by Matt’s Gallery. However, this book was published before representation was agreed.

Funders include: Arts Council England and The Henry Moore Foundation.