Performative Geschichte, Apódeixis und das Problem der Fürsprache

Künstlerische Historiografie bei Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Erika Tan und Bouchra Khalili

Abstract

This text foregrounds performativity as entailed in both academic and artistic approaches to writing or depicting history. Discussing the recent performative and historiographical “turns” in art as complementing and reinforcing each other, the term apódeixis, as conceptualized in Johann Gustav Droysen’s theory of history to connect research and representation, is proposed to describe contemporary artistic engagements with history. The examined works by Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Erika Tan, and Bouchra Khalili critically engage with performativity and historiography. They also address the problem of “speaking for others”, introducing a critical debate from art and cultural theory and thus serving as examples of how art may fruitfully contribute to history writing today.