Performative practices in Ukraine, like the entire corpus of contemporary art, are in a situation of intellectual reflection deficit. But unlike contemporary art, which has a fragmentary description and some attempts at historical systematization, performance in Ukraine is not described at all, devoid of art criticism.
Performance researchers face an ambitious task: to create a place for performance in contemporary Ukrainian art, to find its traces in the past, to establish parallels with performance in other countries, to identify local features. The past, present, and future of performance in a local situation depend on discursive practice.
The project "Archive: Performance Art of Ukraine" is a history not of answers to questions, but of their search.
It should be noted that the features of the modern history of Ukraine are largely determined by the culture of rupture. The media, archives, and organizations working with contemporary art have only in recent years begun to engage in the systematization of information, the creation and restoration of archives, thereby overcoming the culture of rupture. The project "Archive: Ukrainian Performance Art" is also part of this new trend, reflections on the price and value of what is produced in the field of culture.
Performative practices due to their diversity are a complex material for theorizing. Conceptual, poetic, political, dance, musical performance ... What could be a relevant method for researching and systematizing performance practice in Ukraine?
It is possible to study a phenomenon through its dialectical negation, that is, what it is not. For example, using linguistics. There are no antonyms for the word "performance" in the Ukrainian dictionary, only indirect antonyms can be found in the Russian dictionary. The English dictionary offers dozens of antonyms.
The lacuna in the Ukrainian dictionary indicates the need to develop a categorical and conceptual apparatus. Until this happens, the most appropriate research method is phenomenological. Acquaintance with Ukrainian performers, joint reflections are the most important material of the expedition.
The movement between subjective and objectification is perhaps how the trajectory of the research should be described.
In the process of researching the project "Archive: Performance Art of Ukraine", it became clear that a look at performative practices through the lens of anthropology and applied psychoanalysis indicates similarities with the techniques of the 20th century theatrical avant-garde. The use of elements of archaic rituals, practices of working with the body, attention, and imagination.
Working hypothesis: performance is a type of theater that is historically institutionally connected with contemporary art. At least dance performance is. But the absolute majority of artists participating in the project insist that performative practices are not theater. Modern theatrical practices are no less diverse than performance. Intersections can be found in improvisational theater, street theater, documentary theater, and game theater, in which the action is determined by ritual, not drama.
One of the differences is that performative practices do not have such a strict system of the actor's work on himself as theater schools. And this is seen as a certain danger for performers who act without taking into account psychosomatic reactions. What in theater has a technical function - the artist's work with attention and imagination, in performance can be a goal.
For Ukrainian participants, performance is mainly a way of knowing corporeality, one's own emotional sphere, emotional interaction with space. It would be wrong to contrast laboratory work and political performance. However, working with political themes is an opportunity that has not yet been mastered.
What can political performance be in Ukraine? Insufficient institutionalization limits performing artists economically, but at the same time ensures freedom of artistic expression, which is especially important for a country suffering from self-censorship. What are artists more interested in: laboratory research projects or in developing their own political engagement, increasing their influence on social and political processes? How does the local economic situation affect the formal and substantive part of the expression in the field of performance? It can be assumed that interdisciplinary research projects involving theater scholars, as well as representatives of other humanities disciplines, anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists, will be productive for answering and theorizing performance practices.