(In)visible writing in art and performance

Considering writing and performance in its broadest sense, this article questions the role of text art works where presence textual element does not seek to make an immediate visual impact, but rather hides behind conventions administration (Art & Language); exhibition information (Teresa Margolles) or contracts (Adrian Piper; Gina Pane; Marina Abramović; Margolles). Through a comparison two installation pieces linked conceptual exhibited at Invisible: about unseen 1957–2012 (Hayward Gallery, London), ways which ‘quiet’ language as static form is discussed with reference ideas figural put forward by Jean-François Lyotard Discourse, Figure. Lyotard’s concern for ‘thickness’ exemplified writings Marguerite Duras pictured Sanford. S. Ames, printed journal Visible Language 1978. Such references help us recognise that practice has played development contemporary both discursive unsettled: history revisiting, re-performance restlessness.