ABSTRACT
As we have seen in our analysis of the autopoietic feedback loop, the heuristic distinction between the aesthetics of production and reception is rendered useless when it comes to the workings of performance. This chapter deals with the implicit destabilization of the aesthetic category of the work of art itself and examines how performance, given its fundamental transience, generates and presents its specific materiality. It remains to be seen whether the materiality of performance is still compatible with the notion of a work of art.
