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Performance Art: An Introduction. When Art Intersects With Life Many people associate performance art with highly publicized controversies over government funding of the arts, censorship, and standards of public decency. Indeed, at its worst, performance art can seem gratuitous, boring or just plain weird. But, at its best, it taps into our most basic shared instincts: our physical and psychological needs for food, shelter, sex, and human interaction; our individual fears and self-consciousness; our concerns about life, the future, and the world we live in.

It often forces us to think about issues in a way that can be disturbing and uncomfortable, but it can also make us laugh by calling attention to the absurdities in life and the idiosyncrasies of human behavior. Roman Ondák, Measuring the Universe, 2007, shown enacted at MoMA, 2009 Performance art differs from traditional theater in its rejection of a clear narrative, use of random or chance-based structures, and direct appeal to the audience. Where Is It? Performance Art - Art History Basics on Performance Art - 1960s-Present. The term "Performance Art" got its start in the 1960s in the United States. It was originally used to describe any live artistic event that included poets, musicians, film makers, etc. - in addition to visual artists. If you weren't around during the 1960s, you missed a vast array of "Happenings," "Events" and Fluxus "concerts," to name just a few of the descriptive words that were used. It's worth noting that, even though we're referencing the 1960s here, there were earlier precedents for Performance Art.

The live performances of the Dadaists, in particular, meshed poetry and the visual arts. By 1970, Performance Art was a global term, and its definition a bit more specific. In addition to visual artists, poets, musicians and film makers, Performance Art in the 1970s now encompassed dance (song and dance, yes, but don't forget it's not "theater").

The 1970s also saw the heyday of "Body Art" (an offshoot of Performance Art), which began in the 1960s. . • Performance Art is live. 100 Years: A History of Performance Art. Posted by RoseLee Goldberg, Director of Performa and Co-Curator with Klaus Biesenbach of 100 Years Installation view of 100 Years at P.S.1. Photo by Matthew Septimus Performance art is in the middle of an extraordinary resurgence in popularity right now, with groundbreaking performance exhibitions at several institutions in the New York area, including the recent Tino Sehgal show at the Guggenheim Museum, the current Tania Bruguera exhibition at the Neuberger Museum, and of course, The Museum of Modern Art’s Marina Abramović exhibition, The Artist is Present. Performance programming is on the rise at biennials and art fairs around the world, and departments devoted to performance art—such as those at MoMA, Tate Modern, and Centre Georges Pompidou—are increasingly being incorporated into the contemporary art museum.

Installation view of 100 Years at P.S.1. Photo by Summer Kemick. Performance art. In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation.

The performance can be live or via media; the performer can be present or absent. It can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body, or presence in a medium, and a relationship between performer and audience. Performance art can happen anywhere, in any venue or setting and for any length of time. The actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. Visual arts, performing arts, and art performance[edit] Performance art is an essentially contested concept: any single definition of it implies the recognition of rival uses. The meaning of the term in the narrower sense is related to postmodernist traditions in Western culture.

Performance Art Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. "The line between art and life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct, as possible. " Synopsis Performance is a genre in which art is presented "live," usually by the artist but sometimes with collaborators or performers. It has had a role in avant-garde art throughout the twentieth century, playing an important part in anarchic movements such as Futurism and Dada.

Indeed, whenever artists have become discontented with conventional forms of art, such as painting and traditional modes of sculpture, they have often turned to performance as a means to rejuvenate their work. The most significant flourishing of performance art took place following the decline of modernism and Abstract Expressionism in the 1960s, and it found exponents across the world. Performance art of this period was particularly focused on the body, and is often referred to as Body art. Key Ideas Some varieties of performance from the post-war period are commonly described as "actions. " Most Important Art Beginnings.