Research on performativity examines how art and architecture affect the world, rather than what it represents or how it came about.
The concept of performativity goes back to the philosopher J.L. Austin who distinguished between constative and performative utterances. He came to the conclusion that most of what is uttered is there to influence the environment, not necessarily to be correct. In the same way, art and art-making often have an agency, a desire and rhetorical ability to manifest. Performativity studies can be dealing with traditional painting or architecture – but just as well with performance art, ceremony or fashion.