Tablecloth. On definitions of performance

Abstrakt

Tablecloth. On the definitions of performance

From its very beginning the development of performatics was influenced by two kinds of performance activities: performance art and theatre. In Poland theatrologists became proponents of performatics. The translation of Schechner’s book about performance studies was used to homogenise Polish performative vocabulary: the translator reached for the polonized word “performans” and created a new term: “performatyka”. Thanks to Schechner’s general definition – performances are actions, while the subject of performatics are behaviours – the concept of “performans” proved to be very useful because the Polish language lacks such “transparent tool of description”. When in the U.S.A. the researchers dealing with performance studies radically broadened the area of performative activities, their representative in Poland, Jacek Wachowski, became involved in the process of limiting the notion of “performans” and theatre’s influence on performatics. This article is devoted to his innovative proposal.