With the death of academic art – it has indeed died numerous times since the 19th century –, new forms of making and new ways of being in the public sphere have emerged. In fact, the more we reflect on bodies in space, on contemporary works in museum or the street, the more the relationships between the artist/performer, the work, and our situation as a viewer become entangled and complex. In many ways, performance and performance theories stem from the artistic revolutions taking place in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as the invention of film, happenings, installation and so on. The introduction of new medias and practices reversed the old hierarchies between the artist, the work and the viewer. This class offers to analyze the birth of performance as an artistic genre, deeply engaged in a dialogue with previous art forms as painting, sculpture, theater, and more recently engaged with video, mix medias or video games. Consequently, we will see how performance questions all the components of creation, and redefines the triad “artist–work–viewer” by offering new possibilities in terms of agency, identity, medias and location, whether art is concerned, or other practices (fashion, design, theater, activism, daily life interactions). This course will include guest speakers, visits to museums (exhibitions and performance). Plays, depending on the programming in the Spring, may be added too.