The Hysterical Body is The Body on Edge.

Using the body itself as a tool and pushing the body to the edge comes naturally to the hysteric. Historically Hysteric often meant a woman who was hospitalised or otherwise incapacitated because she was perceived to have a feeble mind and would shake and preform for psychologists as a way of expressing her repression.

A hysterical artist feels compelled to both create work that epitomises their need for self-expression and there own unstable mentality and yet also restrict and control what they produce, sometimes to such an extent that it is almost self punishing.

In this presentation we hope to teach you about how ‘the hysterical body’ and the ‘body on edge’ have evolved in the artistic world together over the last 40 years.

Taking the notion of ‘the body on edge’ as your starting point, present an account (an overview) of the artistic and theoretical

developments in this sphere over the last 40 years. Refer to selected works of art in each phase.

Sarah Coe Maisie Draper Helen Cripps Tabitha Thompson

The Body on Edge in Relation to Hysteria