I thoroughly enjoyed my performance art history class with Anna Khimasia (art his 185) this past winter term. The seminar format was coducive to consistently engaging discussion - Anna's extensive knowledge of the subject area paired with her encouragement of different points of view meant I came out each week with something to ponder and further investigate. The discussion posts produced a regular, but not overwhelming, workload that helped me to develop my thinking on the upcoming topics and my writing in general. I'd strongly recommend anyone interested in performance art to take the class.

I loved this class so much. Professor Anna is so understanding and helpful. This class was so interesting and really easy to engage with in lecture. I highly recommend this class!

This is my second time taking prof Khimasia’s class. I took both performance art and this seminar, both were really interesting and engaging. Her lectures are really fun and easy to understand even if you are not familiar with the topics. I didn’t knew much about performance art and protest art before but now I am really interested in these two forms of art. She is knowledgeable, enthusiastic about the topics she’s talking to and often promotes thoughtful discussions with us. She was also very helpful when I had problems with writing or needs clarifications. I would highly recommend taking her class!

I found this class to be a great balance between academic rigor and genuine learning (generally I was not spending more time thinking about assignments than the actual content). While the course is structured around major protests/organizations, you will end up talking a lot more about abstracted elements of protest such as public space, the nature of performance, everydayness, and representation, subjects I found much more interesting. that is to say, the course is much more about the critical analysis of protest as an art form then it is about the history of different protests through the visual arts. I found this angle to offer a much more unique perspective on events which can sometimes feel very tedious because we've learned the basic facts so many times (civil rights, Stonewall, Tiananmen square etc.).

Professor Khimasia assigns only about 40ish pages of reading a week, which I found astonishing and refreshing, because almost every other humanities course I've taken assigns 80-100 a week. This allowed me to actually do the readings, and I found them all to be thought provoking and really enjoyable aka none felt like a waste of time.

Khimasia is evidently really passionate about her work and brings in a unique perspective as a curator, editor, professor and more. She incorporated a lot of contemporary artists she had worked with/ artists that aren't near as mainstreamed or canonized. She really values participation and seemed to genuinely engage with every comment made.

I would say it was a really terrific class overall. It got me thinking, participating, and I was almost never overworked or too stressed. There were weekly assignments, but none over 500 words. I know weekly assignments for many are a deterrent, but I genuinely found them to be set up in a helpful way. We switched between analysis and summaries about the readings for that week. I found this to be extremely helpful as I think the lines between summary and analysis are way more blurred in college writing then people think-- it was really a great and easy writing exercise.

I would highly recommend this course and probably anything else taught by Khimasia! She is welcoming, lively, and a very down to earth professor and lecturer.

This is the second class that I've taken with Professor Khimasia. Last spring I took Protest in Contemporary Art. I found the material so interesting and the professor so engaging, that I knew I would take her seminar class The Rise of Performance Art this year. Professor Khimasia in both classes was always available to answer any questions I had, or providing me with feedback about my assignments. I appreciate that her expectations were high considering that these were both upper division classes. Finally, as a student who was alive for much of what we studied I have a greater appreciation for the art and artists that created during the periods that we studied. All in all these classes and Professor Khimasia have broadened my understanding and widened my perspective of performance art, particularly feminist artists who used their bodies to challenge patriarchal norms.

Professor Khimasia class was interesting for a few reasons. One of the reason was the fact that I got to learn how public space and art coexist. Professor Khimasia does a great job of breaking down information thoroughly. The 2nd reason this class was due to the knowledge that she possesses of the course work. She extensively breaks down why and how a movement is important. Lastly, she is very kind and works with you if you need an extension. Her grading style is very direct! Be prepared for a thorough grading revision. Once I figured out her grading style I was able to adjust and make the right corrections.

Be prepared to write a lot..A LOT! This was the best thing that could happen for me anyway! Because of this, you become a better writer and you get used to writing and reading! I would recommend this class if you are looking to be intellectually challenged and improve your writing!

The assignments for this class are pretty much busywork. Every week there's an assignment due based on one of the readings (that are more conceptual than contextual). It's at least one page, with vague instructions, and ends up being pretty harshly graded. Honestly, some writing tips are arguable not even grammatically correct. Roll is taken at every class and factors pretty heavily into participation.

As for class, slides are the general themes of the week, a photo of the artwork, and a video that can be anywhere from 5 minutes to 20 minutes. Every single class, a video. The professor tries to incite conversation by asking "what do you think about this piece?". Take that as you will. She doesn't have much background information on any piece or artist besides saying where it was made, and what movement it is from. Can be pretty boring and borderline offensive due to her ignorance and fascination with major events within cultural movements, especially if you have any family that lived through these events. She's a nice person, very welcoming, and obviously loves her subject. However, the teaching materials and practice doesn't are not at the same level as her passion.

You can get by barely going to class and still do well, since she doesn't really say anything when she lectures that relates to the assignments. Just do good on the assignments and speak up every time you go to class. Be ready to likely get the B+/B range if you're not at every class and don't fully understand the readings, though.

i took her seminar on performance art with the lecture on protest art... overall, her lectures are fairly interesting. she's one of the few professors that I believe have figured out a way for a 40 person lecture to run like a seminar. that being said, it is still a traditional lecture with slides so if ur not much of a talker, u won't have to worry about having to interact with people often. it's more just she encourages us to chat with neighbors if time allowed and the ambience of her classrooms are very much open dialogue. so she encourages us to share, raise hands, and ask questions whenever. so, a lot of students felt comfortable doing this even though we sat in rows.
lectures are slides with artworks that follow somewhat of a chronological timeline that revolve on a thematic point in time or issue. i would say taking lecture notes should be ur top priority, they help the most when it comes to the final paper. you still have to do some readings for a few assignments every other week and for the final. but, they're not too difficult and are always interesting.

logistically, the class was fairly easy. weekly readings with assignments due every other week which isn't a lot. but, if you fall behind, it does catch up to you. so, make sure ur on top of due dates. readings are a bit dense but u have one week to complete like 2-3 of them so it's not the worst. i had friends that got all 100s across the board but I struggled with her grading style a bit. however, I don't think she's impossible to please, just go to her office hours and after a while you should be able to get a hang of it. she's also really accessible and accomodating. scheduling office hours is not difficult and she genuinely loves her students. she's also pretty flexible with due dates as long as you communicate with her.