Performance 58

As from issue no 58, the British magazine Performance has undergone a surprising metamorphosis. In December 1988. the memorable editor Steve Rogers died. The task of his successor Gray Watson was to implement the reorganization of the magazine, which had already been discussed in Rogers’ days. The new style Performance is no longer a bimonthly, but a quarterly magazine, with a different, very refined design, and has more pages in a slightly smaller format at a slightly higher price. Contents and editorial policy have changed: the focus is still on performance art, but more emphasis is now given to its relationships and similarities with other art disciplines. A broader and more thorough approach of the themes therefore, in which more space is devoted to relevant cultural, philosophical or historical discussions. In this way. Performance hopes to obtain a more international status, and will pay less attention to purely local information. Issue no 58 contains three long, historically- oriented leading articles, by Simon Anderson, David Dunbar and Marjory Allthorpe-Guyton, who discuss three movements that had an impact on performance art: fluxus, situationism, and arte povera, respectively. Chrissie lies deals with the phenomenon of video installation from a critical-philosophical point of view, Simon Gassert writes about Marie-Jo Lafontaine (also printed in German to boost Performances international status), and David Hughes discusses the New Dance Work by Four European Women. Reviews include The Wooster Group and the exhibition Les Magiciens de la Terre. Performance also features a concise international festival calendar, (js)