This course traces the impact of popular performance and audience engagement on Modernist and avant-garde movements across the arts since the late nineteenth century. The path is roughly chronological, identifying the conditions of Modernism throughout the period, with an emphasis on artistic expression as a means of articulating social concerns, and with a constant eye on our own placement in contemporary culture. We will study the individualist influence of the Romantic poets in the nineteenth century, the role of cabaret and vaudeville during massive cultural shifts at the turn of the century, new media platforms (recorded sound, radio and film) in the Jazz Age of the 1920s and '30s, and the counter-cultural Beat, Psychedelic, and Punk movements of the 1950s-70s. The course aims to develop students' critical abilities through discussions of primary and secondary texts and artworks that bring to life key ideas of artistic Modernism through the lens of performative practice. This upper-level course is restricted to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.