Performative Images

This study traces how French video artists and activists have worked with the medium from the 1970s into the early 2020s, examining the practical choices they made around technology. Rather than treating video art and video activism as separate fields, the author reads them side by side, using their work to rethink core ideas in media studies and to put a performative account of image technology at the centre of the discussion.

Drawing on visual culture, performance studies, digital studies, critical race theory and feminist methodologies, the book considers how video has changed both social and psychic life. It argues that the creative and political interventions of these artists and activists challenge the dominant narrative of mainstream media and the idea that communication technology is politically neutral. The analysis is written from an art historiographical standpoint.

The author contends that media technology is strongly shaping political and epistemological conditions today, and that performative video images have become a key force in reassessing culture and politics.