ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Paul Klee's performative drawings to reveal the bodily thought that emerges between artist and material, which grows stronger through repetition and experimentation. It examines Klee's writings and artwork to reflect on the implications of performative drawing for architecture, focusing on three key aspects: movement in line, construction with material, and invention through copying. The chapter argues that architectural practice fosters a similar link in the process of drawing that extends toward ethical responsibility for building design. In performative drawing, the artifact contains the memory of its creation in a sequence of marks that demonstrates their mode of execution. An important exemplar is the Swiss painter and pedagogue Paul Klee who conceived and created drawings as active performances of line, color, and media. Art historian Christine Hopfengart concluded that Klee emphasized his conception of the dual function of the Bauhaus, of the equal importance of theater alongside architecture.
