ABSTRACT
This chapter describes performative arts and intangible cultural practices as aspects of developing and building a culture of peace. It discusses how applied theatre and education for peace support achievement of that worldwide goal. Description of performances by the Serbian artist Marina Abramovic and the artistic work of Niki de Saint Phalle show how violence has been confronted in the performative arts. An account of the “Singing Revolution” in the Baltic States illustrates that practices of intangible cultural heritage can also contribute to a culture of peace. What aesthetic performances and intangible cultural practices produce through performativity are a variety of effects that are not only cognitive and rational but also sensory and emotional. Applied theatre facilitates these effects as embodied learning, which characterizes the holistic pedagogy of performative peace education. The chapter identifies six aspects that characterize the effects of aesthetic and intangible cultural practices: (1) the human body as a medium, (2) performing arts as practices of communication and interaction, (3) mimetic learning and practical knowledge, (4) the performativity of cultural practices, (5) producing culture and generating order, (6) difference and otherness.
