The course is an arena and an opportunity for a progressive inquiry of performance research - how can we explore a performance, and how a performance functions as research? For that purpose we shall discuss key notions through several discursive perspectives: the frame of performance, its mise-en-scène and the alternatives for its semiotic understanding, possibilities for commenting and experiencing a performance as an event, research in the archive as well as archive as research, the practical and theoretical value of mis-performance and the critical dimension in theatre and performance art. The forum includes joint reading of articles about performance research and critical observation of case studies, including contemporary examples and live experiences.