Interview with André Lepecki : what is performance studies?.

Interview with André Lepecki, conducted by Diana Taylor, director and founder of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics

André Lepecki (1965) is a curator, dramaturg, writer, and co-creator based in New York city. Currently he is Associate Professor in Performance Studies at New York University where he teaches courses on critical theory, continental philosophy, performance studies, dance studies, and experimental dramaturgy. He graduated in cultural anthropology at the New University of Lisbon and obtained his Masters and Doctoral degrees in Performance Studies at NYU. In the 1980s he was dramaturg for choreographers Vera Mantero and João Fiadeiro; in the 1990s, for Meg Stuart and Damaged Goods. He co-directed with Bruce Mau the video-installation STRESS (Wien, 2000) and, with Rachael Swain, the video-installation proXy (Sydney, 2003). With Eleonora Fabião he co-created the performance series Wording (2004-2006). He is currently curating and directing a remaking of Allan Kaprow's 18 Happenings in 6 Acts, for Haus der Kunst, Munich. He has curated events for Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), and Tanz in August (Berlin). He has lectured at Leuven University, Brown University, Tate Modern, TanzQuartier, World Cultural Forum, among other venues in Europe, the US, Australia, and Brazil. He contributes regularly for several art publications in the US, Brazil, and Europe, including The Drama Review, Art Forum, Performance Research, Contact Quarterly, Theaterschrift, Nouvelles de Danse, among others. He is member of the editorial boards of Dance Theatre Journal, e-mispherica, and Performance Research. He is editor of the anthologies Of the Presence of the Body (2004) and The Senses in Performance (with Sally Banes, 2006). He is the author of Exhausting Dance: performance and the politics of movement (2006). Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics