Dorothé Orczyk | Performance Art as Female Resistance | University of Amsterdam | Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Christa-Maria Lerm-Hayes, Kasia Lech, PhD, Prof. Dr. Amy Bryzgel | March 2023 | d.a.orczyk@gmail.com / d.a.orczyk@uva.nl

In my research Performance Art as Female Resistance I focus on if and how performance art as a form of (political) resistance was used by Polish female performance artists who started their art practice during the Polish People’s Republic (1952-1989) and continued their practice after the fall of the Wall. Some of them are still active today. I will focus on four artists, nowadays considered avantgarde artists at the time; Natalia LL (1937-2022), Zofia Kulik (1947), Ewa Partum (1945) and Maria Pinińska-Bereś (1931-1999). Performance art plays a significant role in their work and the theme of women is central to their practices. I will investigate how these artists reflect on their position as women and female artists then, how they experience their current position, and the role they attribute to performance. An analysis of their work can provide unique insights into the possibly changed role of performance art as a (political) tool in connection to feminism, as well as the position of female artists. By studying the work of female artists who have experienced a regime change we can gain insight relevant to today’s circumstances now that women’s relative autonomy is again threatened. I will explore how did these female artists oppose their curtailment and deal with the changing situation. Why did these artists use performance art? And what does this mean for the current generation of female artists?