Aliza Shvarts

Aliza Shvarts
Aliza Shvarts speaking at the Whitney.
Born1986 (age 37–38)
NationalityAmerican
EducationNew York University, Yale University, Whitney Independent Study Program
Known for
AwardsCreative Capital Art Writers Award
Websitealizashvarts.com

Aliza Shvarts (born 1986) is an artist and writer who works in performance, video, and installation.[1] Her art and writing explore queer and feminist understandings of reproduction and duration,[2] and use these themes to affirm abjection, failure, and "decreation". Simone Weil's idea of decreation has been described as "a mystical passage from the created to the uncreated"[3] and "a spiritual exercise of mystical passage: across a threshold, from created to uncreated".[4]

Shvarts' 2008 performance Untitled [Senior Thesis], 2008[5] generated an international debate.[6] The work explores ideas of fiction and doubt,[7] and engages feminist inquiries into the medical, political, and legal frameworks of gender and reproduction.[8]

Her subsequent works Non-consensual Collaborations (2012–ongoing) and How does it feel to be a fiction (2017) have expanded on such themes as consent, narrative, and doubt.[9] Shvarts holds a BA from Yale University, and a PhD in Performance Studies from New York University.[10][11]

  1. ^ Lambert-Beatty, Carrie (Summer 2009). "Make-Believe: Parafiction and Plausibility" (PDF). October. 129 (129): 51–84. doi:10.1162/octo.2009.129.1.51. S2CID 57560104. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  2. ^ "Aliza Shvarts - Grantees". Arts Writers Grant Program. 2014. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  3. ^ Marcus Boon and Gabriel Levine, “The Promise of Practice” in Documents of Contemporary Art: Practice (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2018), 21.
  4. ^ Robert, William (2005). "Decreation , or Saying Yes" (PDF). Epoché: The University of California Journal for the Study of Religion. 23 (1): 59–85. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  5. ^ Hagen, Lisa Hall (4 April 2012). "A performance ethics of the 'real' abortive body: The case of Aliza Shvarts and 'Untitled [Senior Thesis], 2008'". Performing Ethos: International Journal of Ethics in Theatre and Performance. 2 (1): 21–39. doi:10.1386/peet.2.1.21_1.
  6. ^ Finch, Charlie (12 May 2008). "Mission Aborted". ArtNet. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  7. ^ Schotzko, T. Nikki Cesare (2015). "Not yet finished, never yet begun: Aliza Shvarts, the girl from West Virginia, and the consequence of doubt". Learning how to fall: art and culture after September 11. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp. 99–128. ISBN 9781138796881. OCLC 890462461.
  8. ^ Doyle, Jennifer (2013). "Three Case Studies in Difficulty and the Problem of Affect". Hold it against me: difficulty and emotion in contemporary art. Durham: Duke University Press. pp. 28–39. ISBN 9780822353027. OCLC 808216847.
  9. ^ Vogel, Wendy (Summer 2018). "Going Viral: Aliza Shvarts's Daring Performance Work". Mousse. 64: 250.
  10. ^ Alptraum, Lux (21 July 2018). "There is Life After Campus Infamy". The New York Times.
  11. ^ "Aliza Shvarts on Being Banned and What We Have in Common (interview)". Impact Mania. Retrieved 30 May 2018.