Module Information

Module Identifier
TP33420
Module Title
Performance and Architecture
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Reading List
Other Staff

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Essay  2000 Words  40%
Semester Assessment 7 Hours   Group Conceptual Project Presentation  60%
Supplementary Assessment Essay - to a new title  2000 Words  40%
Supplementary Assessment Individual Presentation and Documentation  60%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Identify, describe and evaluate critically a range of architectural and performative practices.

Articulate the relations between performance and architecture in written and presentational form.

Critically consider the socio-politics of architectural design and occupation.

Participate and co-operate effectively in a group context, conceiving and devising a performance intervention in relation to a particular set of social and architectural circumstances.

Organise and realise performative practices in the exposition of conceptual material.

Brief description

This module examines emerging intersections between the fields of architecture and performance, adopting Jane Rendell’s concept of ‘critical spatial practice’ as a stimulus for analysis and performative intervention. You will consider how performance can be used to interrogate architectural space and practice and to intervene creatively in the ways in which architecture is experienced and inhabited. The module offers a series of lecture/seminars that will consider practices which articulate the intersections between architecture and performance. Through the module you will be introduced to key spatial, temporal and social concepts and consider the work of architects, performance makers and artists whose work has involved an interdisciplinary examination and/or interrogation of architecture by means of performance. As a culmination to the module you will conceive and devise a performative intervention for a given location using concepts and methods discussed during the module. This will be a conceptual project only: the performance will not be performed.

Content

Indicative Content:

Performing Architectures
Event-Space
Spatial Dramaturgy
Critical Spatial Practice
Between the Body and the Built
The Past and the Present
Participation and Relation
Performing Power
The Model in/as Performance
Interdisciplinarity

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number Not developed
Communication Students will demonstrate oral communication skills in lecture/seminar sessions, gain experience in selecting and analysing material for written assessments, and will develop skills through organising and realising performative practices in the conceptual project.
Improving own Learning and Performance Self-regulation, motivation and time-management skills are developed through the module and are demanded for the successful completion of both its assignments.
Information Technology The ability to utilise information technology is developed in the research for and delivery of both the written Essay and the presentation of the Group Conceptual Project.
Personal Development and Career planning Transferable skills (managing personal workloads and meeting deadlines, designing and realising research project) are developed through the completion of assessment tasks.
Problem solving Analytical problem solving and the identification of appropriate strategies and procedures are encouraged and assessed across the duration of the module.
Research skills Appropriate personal research and the development of effective personal research practices are directly assessed through both assessments.
Subject Specific Skills See QAA Dance, Drama and Performance Subject Benchmark Statement (Version 2007).
Team work Effective group work through negotiating ideas and opinions is addressed through the Group Conceptual Project. Students will also develop skills necessary to conduct the collaborative activity demanded by this assessment.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6