Amy Bryzgel's "Performance Art in Eastern Europe since 1960"

Amy Bryzgel is Senior Lecturer in Film and Visual Culture at the University of Aberdeen.

She applied the “Page 99 Test” to her new book, Performance Art in Eastern Europe since 1960, and reported the following:

Page 99 of my book says nothing about it, and yet it says everything, because page 99 is a list of endnotes! This page is about a quarter of the way into the book, and consists of the 7th page (of ten) of the endnotes to that chapter. While most may never even read this page, some may simply glance at it, and only the avid researcher will scrutinize it sharply, it is a very important page, as it forms the foundation and basis for the book, and reflects the rigorous research undertaken over the course of several years.

Performance Art in Eastern Europe since 1960 is the first substantial academic study that outlines the history and development of performance art, or live art, including action art and happenings, in the former communist countries of Eastern Europe. Because performance art developed as an experimental or unofficial art form in the region, it was not usually recorded or included in official art histories, and therefore still exists, in many instances, as primarily an oral history. Consequently much of my research involved traveling to the region and interviewing artists about their performative art practices. While that forms a substantial part of the research, it also relies quite heavily on primary, secondary and even tertiary published materials. What this page reveals is the extensive research that went into creating this text.

Page 99 may not be an exciting page to read, and it may tell you nothing about the topic of my book, but it is important that it is there, and in its very existence, can tell you everything.

Learn more about Performance Art in Eastern Europe since 1960 at the Manchester University Press website.

--Marshal Zeringue