Women have always participated in the avant-garde, both as artists and
"muse."  In this class we'll be looking at some of the interesting
avant-garde work done by women during the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries.  Screenings will include films by Dada and Surrealist
women, Maya Deren, Shirley Clarke, Carolee Schneeman, Sophie Calle,
Yoko Ono, Jennifer Montgomery and Beth B; performance art by Adrian
Piper, Coco Fusco, Carmelita Tropicana, Karen Finley, Laurie Anderson,
Orlan, and Diamanda Galas; and experimental theater that ranges from
the filmed plays of the Living Theater to the radical dance
experiments of Pina Bausch. In addition to scheduled screenings,
students will be encouraged to attend several live performances
outside class. Avant-garde and experimental productions are often
taboo-breaking works that push the envelope on what's considered
acceptable-in terms of both theme and style.  So be forewarned.  In
the words of the Home Film Festival Video catalogue, many of the works
we'll be seeing for this class are "not for all tastes."

Written work: a midterm, a comprehensive final exam, and 2 papers.