Performance art in East-Central Europe developed as a mode of survival, a method of expression that eluded the censors and was more difficult to disrupt by the authorities. But how did artists learn about it, and how did they develop their strategies as performance artists, when it was only very recently that is has started being taught in art academies – if at all? This paper will explore the methods used by artists to cultivate their practice in performance art, while looking at parallel examples of teaching performance on an Ancient University campus in the Northeast of Scotland in the 21st century.

Amy Bryzgel is Professor of Film and Visual Culture at the University of Aberdeen, where she has worked for 12 years. Her research focuses on performance art in East-Central Europe. She is the author of three books: Performing the East (IB Tauris, 2013); Miervaldis Polis (Neputns, 2015); and Performance Art in Eastern Europe since 1960 (Manchester University Press, 2017).