Professor Edward Scheer

Professor Edward Scheer

Head of School
Arts, Design & Architecture (ADA)
School of Art & Design

Professor Edward Scheer works across Performance Studies and Visual Culture and recently completed two collaborative ARC funded Discovery projects Towards an Experimental Humanties with colleagues (Brannigan and Muecke) at UNSW and New Media Dramaturgy with an international team (Eckersall and Grehan et al). Recent books include William Yang: Stories of Love and Death (New South Press, 2015) with Helena Grehan and The Dumb Type Reader with Peter Eckersall with MTP Press in Copenhagen in 2016. He has published articles on performance art and aesthetics in TDR, PAJ, Parkett and Performance Research and has written numerous catalogue essays for the AGNSW, Documenta (12), the Biennale of Sydney (2006) and the Auckland Triennial (2010) as well as pieces on arts and culture in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Monthly.

Author of Scenario, a study of new work from the iCinema Project (UNSW Press and ZKM, 2011), his Multimedia Performance (Palgrave 2012) with Rosie Klich is on course reading lists across the world. Scheer’s study of Mike Parr's performance art, The Infinity Machine (Schwartz City Press, 2010) is the first comprehensive account of this aspect of the artist’s practice.  

He is a founding editor of the journal Performance Paradigm and has edited a number of books including Antonin Artaud: A Critical Reader (Routledge 2004) and Technologies of Magic. A Cultural Study of Ghosts, Machines and the Uncanny with John Potts (Power 2006).

A former chairman of the board of directors of the Performance Space in Sydney, he was also President of Psi, Performance Studies international, the largest international professional association in the field of performance studies from 2007-2011.  He was a member of the Australia Research Council College of Experts (2013-2015). 

Phone
(02) 89360728
  • Books | 2017
    Eckersall P; Grehan H; Scheer E, 2017, New Media Dramaturgy Performance, Media and New-Materialism, Palgrave Macmillan UK, http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55604-2
    Books | 2017
    Eckersall P; Scheer E; Shintaro F, 2017, Dumb Type Reader
    Books | 2016
    Grehan H; Scheer E, 2016, William Yang Recompositions, NewSouth
    Books | 2012
    Klich R; Scheer EA, 2012, Multimedia Performance, Palgrave MacMillan, London UK
    Books | 2011
    Scheer EA, 2011, Scenario, hardback, UNSW Press and ZKM, Sydney and Karlsruhe, http://www.wheelersbooks.com.au/books/9781742232836-scenario/
    Books | 2009
    Scheer EA, 2009, The Infinity Machine: Mike Parrs Performance Art 1971-2005, First, Schwartz City Press, Melbourne
    Books | 2004
    2004, Antonin Artaud A Critical Reader, Scheer EA, (ed.), Routledge Press, USA
    Books | 2000
    2000, 100 years of cruelty: essays on Artaud, Scheer EA, (ed.), Power Publications, Sydney
  • Book Chapters | 2019
    Scheer E, 2019, '"The performative institution"', in Eckersall P; Grehan H (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Politics, Routledge, UK, pp. 191 - 197, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203731055-48
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Scheer E, 2019, 'A Concise Introduction to Heiner Muller', in Digital Theatre Plus, Digital Theatre Plus, UK, https://www.digitaltheatreplus.com/education/s/heiner-muller
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Scheer E, 2019, 'A Concise Introduction to Multimedia Performance', in Digital Theatre Plus, Digital Theatre Plus, UK, https://www.digitaltheatreplus.com/education/s/multimedia
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Scheer E, 2019, 'A Concise Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory', in Digital Theatre Plus, Digital Theatre Plus, UK, https://www.digitaltheatreplus.com/education/s/psychoanalytic-theory
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Scheer E, 2019, 'Postmodernism: A Concise Introduction', in Digital Theatre Plus, Digital Theatre Plus, UK, https://www.digitaltheatreplus.com/education/s/postmodernism
    Book Chapters | 2018
    Scheer E, 2018, 'A Space in Time Itself', in What Is Performance Art? Australian Perspectives, pp. 112 - 128
    Book Chapters | 2018
    Scheer E, 2018, 'Deconstruction: A Concise Introduction', in Digital Theatre Plus, Digital Theatre Plus, UK, https://www.digitaltheatreplus.com/education/s/deconstruction
    Book Chapters | 2018
    Scheer E, 2018, 'Stelarc in the Air. The Flight off the Posthuman', in Fell H (ed.), Stelarc: Stretched Skin, Obsolete, Uncertain and Indifferent Body, PS Media, Trondheim Norway, pp. 66 - 70
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Scheer E, 2017, 'Animate Atmospheres: Art at the Edge of Materiality', in Braddock C (ed.), Animism in Art and Performance, Springer, UK, pp. 131 - 149, http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783319665498
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Scheer EA, 2017, 'Dumb Type's XD', in Scheer EA; Eckersall P (ed.), The Dumb Type Reader, Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen, pp. 145 - 158, http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/D/bo26482424.html
    Book Chapters | 2016
    Scheer EA, 2016, 'Art After the Expiry date: Mike Parr’s Moving Images', in Butler R; Pitt E (ed.), Mike Parr Language and Chaos, NGA Publications, Canberra, pp. 12 - 22, https://shop.nga.gov.au/exhibition-catalogues/mike-parr-language-and-chaos
    Book Chapters | 2015
    Scheer EA; Eckersall P; Grehan H, 2015, 'New Media Dramaturgy', in Romanska M (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, Routledge Taylor and Francis, UK and New York USA, pp. 375 - 381, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415658492/
    Book Chapters | 2014
    Scheer EA, 2014, 'Recomposing the Social Drama: Myra's Olympic Snafu', in MISperformance: essays in shifting perspectives, Maska, ljubljana, pp. 157 - 170, http://www.maska.si/index.php?id=19&L=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=1203&cHash=ee95867fb50865ea321855d64191d039
    Book Chapters | 2013
    Scheer EA, 2013, 'Re-creating Performance Art: The Rise of Re-enactment', in Handbook of Research on Creativity, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, MA, USA, pp. 422 - 434, http://www.e-elgar.com/
    Book Chapters | 2012
    Scheer EA, 2012, 'The Generosity of Displacement', in Wilson T (ed.), Parallax: The Performance Paradigm in Photography, edn. 1st, Australian Centre for Photography, Paddington, NSW, pp. 8 - 17
    Book Chapters | 2010
    Scheer EA, 2010, 'Instance: Granular Synthesis, Modell 5', in Bay-Cheng S; Kattenbelt C; Lavender A; Nelson R (ed.), Mapping Intermediality in Performance, edn. 1, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, pp. 115 - 123
    Book Chapters | 2009
    Scheer EA; Eckersall P, 2009, 'Between Antipodality and Relational Performance: Performance Studies in Australia; E.Scheer & P.Eckersall in ; eds.', in McKenzie J; Wee CJW-L; Roms H (ed.), Contesting Performance in an Age of Globalization, edn. first, Palgrave MacMillan, UK, pp. 109 - 122
    Book Chapters | 2009
    Scheer EA, 2009, 'What I think about When I think about dancing', in The River Project, edn. first, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney NSW
    Book Chapters | 2009
    Scheer EA, 2009, '‘I Artaud BWO: The Uses of Artaud’s To Have Done with the Judgement of God’', in Cull L (ed.), Deleuze and Performance, edn. first, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp. 37 - 53
    Book Chapters | 2006
    Scheer EA, 2006, 'Eleutheromania: Performance Art and the War on Terror', in A Performance Cosmology. Testimony from the Future, Evidence of the Past., edn. Original, Routledge Press, United kingdom, pp. 187 - 190
    Book Chapters | 2006
    Scheer EA, 2006, 'Stelarc, Magic and Cyber-Ritual', in Potts J; Scheer E (ed.), Technologies of Magic. A Cultural Study of Ghosts, Machines and the Uncanny., edn. Original, Power Publications, Australia, pp. 141 - 155
    Book Chapters | 2005
    Scheer E, 2005, 'I Artaud BwO: The Uses of Artaud's To have done with the judgement of god', in Deleuze and Performance, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 36 - 53, http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748635030.003.0002
    Book Chapters | 2004
    Scheer EA, 2004, 'Dissident vectors: surrealist ethnography and ecological performance', in Eckersall P; Uchino T; Moriyama N (ed.), Alternatives. Debating Theatre Culture in the Age of Con-Fusion, edn. 11, Peter Lang, Brussels, pp. 55 - 61
    Book Chapters | 2000
    Scheer EA, 2000, 'De Quincey/ Body weather', in Australian performing arts directory, edn. Original, Performance Media, North Sydney, NSW, pp. 9 - 11
    Book Chapters | 2000
    Scheer EA, 2000, 'Sketches of the jet: Artaud`s abreaction of the system of fine arts', in 100 years of cruelty: essays on Artaud, edn. Original, Power Publications, Sydney, pp. 57 - 74
  • Journal articles | 2019
    Scheer E, 2019, 'Bombshells and Balaclavas: Ironies of inclusion in the work of young Islamic artists in Australia', Performance Research, 24, pp. 37 - 43, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2019.1718427
    Journal articles | 2018
    Scheer E, 2018, 'On Departures Heiner Müller meets Elon Musk', Performance Research: a journal of the performing arts, Volume 23, 2018 -, pp. 406 - 408, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2018.1506397
    Journal articles | 2015
    Scheer E, 2015, 'Robotics as New Media Dramaturgy: The Case of the Sleepy Robot', TDR - The Drama Review - A Journal of Performance Studies, 59, pp. 140 - 149, http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/DRAM_a_00476
    Journal articles | 2014
    Scheer E, 2014, 'How to Do Things with performance art', Performance Research, 19, pp. 90 - 98, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2014.985114
    Journal articles | 2014
    Scheer EA, 2014, 'The Resistances of the Body: On Durational Art and Tehching Hsieh', Performance Paradigm, 2014, pp. 48 - 65, http://www.performanceparadigm.net/index.php/journal/article/view/145
    Journal articles | 2013
    Scheer EA, 2013, 'Non Places for Non People: Social Sculpture in Minto', Southerly, 72, pp. 87 - 97, http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=787102213628233;res=IELLCC
    Journal articles | 2012
    Scheer EA, 2012, 'Mike Parr: Brain Coral', Art and Australia, 50, pp. 149 - 150
    Journal articles | 2012
    Scheer EA, 2012, 'Posthuman Scenarios and Performative Media', Performance Research, 17, pp. 23 - 33
    Journal articles | 2012
    Scheer EA, 2012, 'The Return of the Real Duration', Column, 10, pp. 47 - 50
    Journal articles | 2008
    Scheer E, 2008, 'Australia's post-olympic apocalypse?', PAJ - Journal of Performance and Art, 30, pp. 42 - 56, http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/pajj.2008.30.1.42
    Journal articles | 2008
    Scheer E, 2008, 'The performance of disappearance', TDR - The Drama Review - A Journal of Performance Studies, 52, pp. 195 - 201, http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/dram.2008.52.3.195
    Journal articles | 2008
    Scheer EA, 2008, ''Australia's Post-Olympic Apocalypse?' Mike Parr¿s Kingdom Come and Other Actions (2001-2005)', PAJ - A Journal of Performance and Art, 30, pp. 42 - 57
    Journal articles | 2007
    Scheer EA, 2007, 'Introduction: The End of Ethics?', Performance Paradigm, 3, pp. Online Journal
    Journal articles | 2006
    Scheer EA; Eckersall P, 2006, 'Introduction: Japan after the 1960`s: the ends of the avant-garde', Performance Paradigm, 2, pp. online
    Journal articles | 2006
    Scheer EA; Eckersall P, 2006, '`After Liveness` An E-Interview with Philip Auslander', The Ends of the 60s. Performance, Media and Contemporary Culture., pp. 142 - 150
    Journal articles | 2006
    Scheer EA; Potts J, 2006, 'Introduction', Technologies of Magic. A Cultural Study of Ghosts, Machines and the Uncanny., pp. 7 - 19
    Journal articles | 2006
    Scheer EA, 2006, 'Marquard Smith (ed.) (2005) Stelarc: The Monograph. Cambridge, MA and London: The MIT Press', Culture Machine, 8(2006), pp. online
    Journal articles | 2006
    Scheer EA, 2006, '`Performing In-Difference` An E-Interview with Stelarc', The Ends of the 60s. Performance, Media and Contemporary Culture., pp. 137 - 141
    Journal articles | 2005
    Scheer EA; Eckersall P, 2005, 'Introduction', Performance Paradigm, 1, pp. Online
    Journal articles | 2005
    Scheer EA, 2005, 'Stelarc, Performing In-Difference Interview', Performance Paradigm, 1, pp. Online
    Journal articles | 2001
    Scheer EA; Eckersall P; Fensham R; Varney D, 2001, 'Tokyo Diary', Performance Research, pp. 71 - 86
    Journal articles | 2001
    Scheer EA, 2001, 'The uses of critical surrealism. Part 1: Pale Moons, Part Objects', UTS Review: Cultural Studies and New Writing, pp. 192 - 199
    Journal articles | 2001
    Scheer EA, 2001, 'The veil of the liminal - Mike Parr`s Brides', Parkett, pp. 157 - 164
    Journal articles | 2000
    Scheer EA, 2000, 'Atmospheres: Richard Crow and the art of the anti-architectural', Site 2000, 2000, pp. 81 - 86
    Journal articles | 1999
    Scheer E; Fensham R, 1999, 'Reviews', Performance Research, 4, pp. 137 - 150, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13528165.1999.10871654
    Journal articles | 1999
    Scheer EA, 1999, 'Dust on the lens', UTS Review: Cultural Studies and New Writing, pp. 222 - 225
    Journal articles | 1999
    Scheer EA, 1999, 'Let`s make a theory of performance collapse!', Heat, 13, pp. 229 - 234
    Journal articles | 1999
    Scheer EA, 1999, 'Rituals of incorporation: food and performance in Sydney, Australia', Performance Research, pp. 137 - 141
    Journal articles | 1998
    Scheer E, 1998, '<i>Phantasmic Radio</i> (review)', L'Esprit Créateur, 38, pp. 145 - 146, http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/esp.2010.0266
    Journal articles | 1995
    Scheer EA, 1995, 'The uses of critical surrealism, part ii: defacement', Cultural Studies Review, 8(2), pp. 194 - 200