The Bizarre Bazaar: investigating gendered performance through interactive performance art

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorCrewe, Jenni-lee
dc.contributor.authorBurger, Nicolene
dc.date.accessioned2025-11-04T11:23:58Z
dc.date.available2025-11-04T11:23:58Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.date.updated2025-11-04T11:17:55Z
dc.description.abstractThe Bizarre Bazaar: Investigating Gendered Performance through Interactive Performance Art This study investigates the persistence and evolution of structural violence as it relates to gender rooted in colonialism/apartheid within contemporary Afrikaner communities, particularly in middle and upper-class enclaves and its impact on the broader South African context. Despite South Africa's legal and political changes post-1994, many of these Afrikaner communities resist change, perpetuating nationalist forms of Afrikaner Femininity through a kind of gendered training and performance. Through critical analysis of community events (like the bazaar) as complex displays of race, class, gender, and politics, and supported by the research of Azille Coetzee, Sarah Nuttall, Christi van der Westhuizen, and Sara Ahmed, the study argues for the capacity of performance art to reveal and disrupt normative Femininity. This work seeks to create an impactful, interactive art intervention conceptualised through a circular methodology of resourcefulness and planning, and influenced by the writings of Anne Bogart, Richard Schechener, and Tim Ingold. The installation-performance piece, The Bizarre Bazaar, is the practical output of this practice-based research endeavour. Mobilising performance techniques such as juxtaposition, swarm theory, heightening the senses of the spect-actors, audience participation, and more, The Bizarre Bazaar musters the ambiguities and tensions inherent in heteronormative gendered performances - showing how bizarre these gendered expectations are and creates a bizarre performance that renders the recognisable strange. Key research questions explore how performance art can, through the investigation of traditional Feminine roles and gendered performances within community events such as bazaars, challenge and potentially transform the normalised modes of White Feminine performativity in South Africa, thus offering new identity possibilities for women.
dc.identifier.apacitationBurger, N. (2025). <i>The Bizarre Bazaar: investigating gendered performance through interactive performance art</i>. (). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42106en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationBurger, Nicolene. <i>"The Bizarre Bazaar: investigating gendered performance through interactive performance art."</i> ., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies, 2025. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42106en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationBurger, N. 2025. The Bizarre Bazaar: investigating gendered performance through interactive performance art. . University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42106en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Burger, Nicolene AB - The Bizarre Bazaar: Investigating Gendered Performance through Interactive Performance Art This study investigates the persistence and evolution of structural violence as it relates to gender rooted in colonialism/apartheid within contemporary Afrikaner communities, particularly in middle and upper-class enclaves and its impact on the broader South African context. Despite South Africa's legal and political changes post-1994, many of these Afrikaner communities resist change, perpetuating nationalist forms of Afrikaner Femininity through a kind of gendered training and performance. Through critical analysis of community events (like the bazaar) as complex displays of race, class, gender, and politics, and supported by the research of Azille Coetzee, Sarah Nuttall, Christi van der Westhuizen, and Sara Ahmed, the study argues for the capacity of performance art to reveal and disrupt normative Femininity. This work seeks to create an impactful, interactive art intervention conceptualised through a circular methodology of resourcefulness and planning, and influenced by the writings of Anne Bogart, Richard Schechener, and Tim Ingold. The installation-performance piece, The Bizarre Bazaar, is the practical output of this practice-based research endeavour. Mobilising performance techniques such as juxtaposition, swarm theory, heightening the senses of the spect-actors, audience participation, and more, The Bizarre Bazaar musters the ambiguities and tensions inherent in heteronormative gendered performances - showing how bizarre these gendered expectations are and creates a bizarre performance that renders the recognisable strange. Key research questions explore how performance art can, through the investigation of traditional Feminine roles and gendered performances within community events such as bazaars, challenge and potentially transform the normalised modes of White Feminine performativity in South Africa, thus offering new identity possibilities for women. DA - 2025 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Performance KW - Art KW - Bizarre Bazaar LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2025 T1 - The Bizarre Bazaar: investigating gendered performance through interactive performance art TI - The Bizarre Bazaar: investigating gendered performance through interactive performance art UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42106 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/42106
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationBurger N. The Bizarre Bazaar: investigating gendered performance through interactive performance art. []. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies, 2025 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42106en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentCentre for Film and Media Studies
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanities
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectPerformance
dc.subjectArt
dc.subjectBizarre Bazaar
dc.titleThe Bizarre Bazaar: investigating gendered performance through interactive performance art
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_hum_2025_burger nicolene.pdf
Size:
11.37 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.72 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Masters