Between reiteration and performance production. Two models of cultural production for a new performance turn

Abstract

This article analyses new models of cultural production rooted in the adaptation of live arts within museum contexts. Focusing on the study of the great retrospective exhibitions of Marina Abramović and Tino Sehgal, we try to identify the development of performative reiteration strategies, exposure mechanisms of these immaterial archives, as well as new productive models such as the production of co-presence and the production of intersubjectivity. If in the second half of the 20th century, performance emerged as a subversive tool through which to question the market and cultural institutions, the absorption and transformation of performances into a new product of cultural consumption generates a series of contradictions affecting its essence, especially since this second performance wave —named as a new performative turn— is driven by the same museums and cultural institutions that performance artist once tried to question. The exhibition containers have become meeting points between artists and an audience eager for direct experiences, where creators from other disciplines nurture and expand the galleries boundaries, replacing artefacts for living bodies.