The Cultural Politics of One-to-One Performance: Strange Duets

This monograph is the first study to critically examine works of performance made for an audience of one. Despite being a prolific feature of the performance scene since the turn of the millennium, critical writing about this area of contemporary practice remains scarce. This book proposes a genealogy of the curious relationship between solo performer and lone spectator through lineages in the histories of live art, visual art and theatre practices. Drawing on one-to-one performances by artists including Marilyn Arsem, Oreet Ashery, Franko B, Rosana Cade, Jess Dobkin, Karen Finley, David Hoyle, Adrian Howells, Kira O’Reilly, Barbara T Smith and Julie Tolentino, Rachel Zerihan produces research that is both affective and critical. This performance analysis proposes four frameworks through which to examine the significance and challenge of this work: cathartic, social, explicit and economic. One-to-one performance is proposed as a rich portal for examining the cultural politics of contemporary society. The book will appeal to students and scholars from performance studies, theatre, visual art and cultural studies.

Rachel Zerihan is a writer and researcher who has taught extensively in higher education and is currently training to become a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist. She has published widely and is co-editor of a Special Edition of Performing Ethos Journal on 'Ethics in One-to-One Performance' (2014), Intimacy Across Visceral and Digital Performance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and Interfaces of Performance (2009).