On the Threshold of Knowing: Lectures and Performances in Art and Academia

»Rainer is among the first to address lecture performances in an in-depth study.« www.sehepunkte.de, 18/5 (2018), Anja Foerschner Besprochen in: [rezens.tfm], 15.05.2018, Marcel Behn

In this in-depth analysis of artistic and academic lectures and performances, Lucia Rainer features an innovative conceptual and methodological tool that augments Goffman's Frame Analysis with a praxeological perspective. This way, she gives profound insight into how knowledge - as a practice and a concept - is associated with clarity rather than truth. Based on four case studies - including John Cage's unpublished and unabridged audio recording of Lecture on Nothing - the study explores how the concept of lecture performances, which adheres to two frames that never entirely blend, provides a space to (re-)negotiate the artistic-academic relationship.

Frontmatter 1 Table of contents 5 1. Introduction 9 2. Theoretical embedment 23 3. Methodological approach 67 4. The concept of lecture performances 75 5. The lecture frame and its framings 87 6. Academic lecture: "Experimental physics 1" 91 7. Artistic lecture: "Lecture on nothing" 113 8. The performance frame and its framings 131 9. Artistic performance: "Dance for nothing" 149 10. Academic performance: "Making research experiential - fascinating phenomena observed through high-speed cameras" 165 11. Overriding knowledge practices 181 12. On the threshold of knowing 193 13. Acknowledgments 209 14. Appendix 211 Backmatter 226