The Artist Is President
Performance Art and Other Keywords in the Age of Donald Trump
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2227614 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christopher Grobe (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 764-805 |
| Publication date | 2020-06-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Inquiry (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0093-1896 • E-ISSN: 1539-7858 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/709223 |
| OpenAlex | W3037240792 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 16 |
Throughout the 2016 US presidential election, pundits repeatedly described Donald Trump as a performance artist and his campaign as performance art. Meanwhile, his alt-right supporters were mounting performance art shows, debating the meaning of Marina Abramović’s work, and developing their own theories of political performance. For experts in performance theory, such punditry and provocation is like the image in a funhouse mirror. It’s hard to make sense of such bizarre, distorted images—let alone to recognize ourselves in them. This article insists that, nonetheless, we should try. Trump and his movement pose special challenges to American political culture—and also to academic performance theory. His rise has revealed the limitations of a politics (and performance theory) based on norms and their transgression. It has also given the lie to politicians’ false belief that they (and only they) are not performing their politics. The challenge now—for academics, activists, citizens, and journalists alike—is to articulate how performance works, how it provides models of cultural power
Art · Art history · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · History · Theatre and Performance Studies · Visual Culture and Art Theory
The Limits of Critique
The Performance of PoliticsObama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power
My Epistemological Crisis
The Decision Dilemma
Donald John Trump, President
Authentic Trump
Trump’s “Reality” Hustle
The Trump Show
Hau
The Sound of Silence
Look to the Crisis Actors
Toward the Integration of Theatre History and Affect Studies
Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern
| Citations per year | 1.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2025 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |