Abstract:
The resurgence of the discussion and practice of performance art in the past thirty
years has moved towards the digital age and consequently has been met with a
new dimension for exploration: YouTube. This paper investigates a possible
reconfiguration of the notion of performance art through the digital archive of
performances by South African rap-rave group, Die Antwoord. Utilizing the
notions of risk, digital liveness (as posited by Phillip Auslander), and a
conceptual dimension of ideas, a distinctive characterization of online
performance art is posited. The video archive as conduit, a performative channel
of expression, is considered as means of interactive meaning-making processes.
This is accomplished by looking at Die Antwoord’s digital archive of YouTube
videos and its confrontational content, as well as the responses in the comment
section from the YouTube community in order to consider how the archive is
reconfigured.
