Download PERFORMANCE ART Definition of Performance Art

PERFORMANCE
ART
Definition
of
Performance
Art,
taken
from
Wikipedia
Note
that
I
do
not
necessarily
agree
with
this
definition
www.damiantoro.com
Performance
art
refers
largely
to
a
performance
which
is
presented
to
an
audience
but
which
does
not
seek
to
present
a
conventional
theatrical
play
or
a
formal
linear
narrative,
or
which
alternately
does
not
seek
to
depict
a
set
of
fictitious
characters
in
formal
scripted
interactions.
It
therefore
will
often
include
some
form
of
action
or
spoken
word
which
is
a
form
of
direct
communication
between
the
artist
and
audience,
rather
than
a
script
written
beforehand.
It
often
entails
a
dramatic
performer
who
is
directly
aware
of
and
in
communication
with
the
audience,
much
the
same
as
a
singer
or
juggler
in
a
concert
or
variety
show
might
be
said
to
perform
directly
for
an
audience,
rather
than
creating
a
fictitious
character
who
inhabits
a
fictitious
dramatic
setting
on
the
stage.
Performance
art
often
breaks
the
fourth
wall,
meaning
that
the
performance
artist
does
not
seek
to
behave
as
if
unaware
of
the
audience.
Some
performance
art
may
utilize
a
script
or
create
a
fictitious
dramatic
setting,
but
still
constitutes
performance
art
in
that
it
does
not
seek
to
follow
the
usual
dramatic
norm
of
creating
a
fictitious
setting
with
a
linear
script
which
follows
conventional
real‐world
dynamics;
rather,
it
would
intentionally
seek
to
satirize
or
to
transcend
the
usual
real‐world
dynamics
which
are
used
in
conventional
theatrical
plays.
In
this
way,
the
performance
work
itself
partakes
of
a
form
of
direct
communication
with
the
audience,
by
relying
on
the
audience's
familiarity
with
nominal
dramatic
premises
and
norms,
in
order
to
go
beyond
them
or
circumvent
them,
even
if
the
characters
within
the
work
themselves
do
not
evince
such
awareness.
Although
performance
art
could
be
said
to
include
relatively
mainstream
forms
of
performance
such
as
dance,
music,
and
circus‐related
things
like
fire
breathing,
juggling
and
gymnastics,
these
are
normally
instead
known
as
the
performing
arts.
Performance
art
is
a
term
usually
reserved
to
refer
to
a
more
conceptual
art
which
conveys
a
content‐based
meaning
in
a
more
drama‐related
sense,
rather
than
being
simple
performance
for
its
own
sake
for
entertainment
purposes.
Furthermore,
performance
art
can
include
any
type
of
physical
stage
performance
which
is
not
an
exhibition
of
direct
artistry
such
as
theater,
music
or
dance,
but
rather
incorporates
satirical
or
conceptual
elements;
an
example
of
this
is
Blue
Man
Group.
In
performance
art,
the
actions
of
an
individual
or
a
group
at
a
particular
place
and
in
a
particular
time
constitute
the
work.
Performance
art
can
happen
anywhere,
in
any
venue
or
setting
and
for
any
length
of
time.
Performance
art
can
be
any
situation
that
involves
four
basic
elements:
time,
space,
the
performer's
body
and
a
relationship
between
performer
and
audience.
Performance
art
traditionally
involves
the
artist
and
other
actors,
but
works
like
Survival
Research
Laboratories’
pieces,
utilizing
robots
and
machines
without
people,
may
also
be
seen
as
an
offshoot
of
performance
art.
In
some
cases,the
audience
unwittingly
becomes
part
of
that
performance.
Origins
The
first
forms
of
performance
art
began
in
the
Middle
Ages,
in
the
forms
of
itinerant
poets
such
as
minstrels,
troubadors,
bards,
and
in
some
cases
jesters.
These
were
artists
who
often
composed
and
performed
their
own
works.
In
the
case
of
minstrels,
their
poems
were
often
composed
spontaneously,
and
bore
direct
relevance
to
the
audience
and
their
society.
Thus,
they
constituted
an
early
form
of
performance
art.
This
evolved
into
various
forms
in
various
cultures,
such
as
Commedia
dell’arte
in
Italy,
pantomime
in
Great
Britain,
mime
artists
(which
are
quite
distinct
from
pantomime),
harlequinade
in
various
European
societies,
skomorokh
in
Russia,
and
folk
plays
in
various
countries.
In
modern
era,
there
continue
to
be
some
paradigmatic
roles
which
fit
this
function,
such
as
buskers.
Modern
development
In
the
modern
era,
there
have
been
a
variety
of
new
works,
concepts
and
artists
which
have
led
to
new
kinds
of
performance
art.
Andy
Warhol
was
noted
for
staging
new
types
of
mass
events
and
performance
art
in
New
York,
notably
with
the
Velvet
Underground
and
also
with
the
Warhol
Superstars.
Laurie
Anderson’s
performance
art
has
been
staged
at
a
number
of
major
venues,
such
as
Lincoln
Center.
Modern
artistic
concepts
such
as
surrealism
and
dadaism
were
used
by
several
artists
to
produce
new
kinds
of
performance
art.
In
the
1960s,
an
increasing
number
of
artists
produced
new
forms
of
performance
art,
including
Yves
Klein,
Allan
Kaprow
‐who
coined
the
term
Happenings‐
Carolee
Schneemann,
Hermann
Nitsch,
Yoko
Ono,
Wolf
Vostell,
Joseph
Beuys,
Barbara
T.
Smith,
Vito
Acconci,
Joan
Jonas,
the
women
associated
with
the
Feminist
Studio
Workshop
and
the
Woman's
Building
in
Los
Angeles,
and
Chris
Burden.
But
performance
art
was
certainly
anticipated,
if
not
explicitly
formulated,
by
Japan’s
Gutai
group
of
the
1950s,
especially
in
such
works
as
Atsuko
Tanaka’s
"Electric
Dress"
(1956).
In
1970
the
British‐based
pair
Gilbert
and
George
created
the
first
of
their
"living
sculpture"
performances
when
they
painted
themselves
gold
and
sang
"Underneath
The
Arches"
for
extended
periods.
Jud
Yalkut,
a
pioneering
video
artist,
and
others,
such
as
Carolee
Schneemann
and
Sandra
Binion,
began
combining
video
with
other
media
to
create
experimental
works.
Guerrilla
theater,
or
street
theater,
including
performances
by
students
and
others,
have
regularly
appeared
within
the
ranks
of
antiwar
movements.
The
anarchist
antiwar
group
the
Yippies,
partly
organized
by
Abbie
Hoffmann,
performed
street
theater
when
they
dropped
hundreds
of
dollar
bills
from
the
balcony
of
the
Stock
Exchange
in
New
York.
Latino,
Latin‐American,
and
other
street
theater
groups,
including
those
like
the
San
Francisco
Mime
Troupe,
that
stem
from
circus
and
traveling
theater
traditions,
should
also
be
mentioned.
Although
they
may
not
be
not
direct
antecedents
of
art‐world
performance,
their
influence,
particularly
in
the
United
States
should
be
noted—
as
should
that
of
the
U.S.
conceptual
artist
Sol
Lewitt,
who
in
the
early
1960s
converted
mural‐style
drawing
into
an
act
of
performance
by
others.
Performance
art,
because
of
its
relative
transience,
had
a
fairly
robust
presence
in
the
avant‐garde
of
East
Bloc
countries,
especially
Yugoslavia
and
Poland,
by
the
1970s.
Western
cultural
theorists
often
trace
performance
art
activity
back
to
the
beginning
of
the
20th
century.
Dada,
for
example,
provided
a
significant
progenitor
with
the
unconventional
performances
of
poetry,
often
at
the
Cabaret
Voltaire,
by
the
likes
of
Richard
Huelsenbeck
and
Tristan
Tzara.
There
were
also
Russian
Futurist
artists
who
could
be
identified
as
performance
artists,
such
as
David
Burliuk,
who
painted
his
face
for
his
actions
(1910–20).
However,
there
are
accounts
of
Renaissance
artists
putting
on
public
performances
that
could
be
said
to
be
early
ancestors
of
modern
performance
art.
Some
performance
artists
and
theorists
point
to
other
traditions
and
histories,
ranging
from
tribal
to
sporting
and
ritual
or
religious
events.
Performance
art
activity
is
not
confined
to
European
or
American
art
traditions;
many
notable
practitioners
can
be
found
in
Asia
and
Latin
America.
Performance
In
performance
art,
usually
one
or
more
people
perform
in
front
of
an
audience.
Performance
artists
often
challenge
the
audience
to
think
in
new
and
unconventional
ways
about
theater
and
performing,
break
conventions
of
traditional
performing
arts,
and
break
down
conventional
ideas
about
"what
art
is,"
a
preoccupation
of
modernist
experimental
theater
and
of
postmodernism.
Thus,
even
though
in
most
cases
the
performance
is
in
front
of
an
audience,
in
some
cases,
notably
in
the
later
works
of
Allan
Kaprow,
the
audience
members
become
the
performers.
The
performance
may
be
scripted,
unscripted,
or
improvisational.
It
may
incorporate
music,
dance,
song,
or
complete
silence.
Art‐world
performance
has
often
been
an
intimate
set
of
gestures
or
actions,
lasting
from
a
few
minutes
to
many
hours,
and
may
rely
on
props
or
avoid
them
completely.
Performance
may
occur
in
transient
spaces
or
in
galleries,
room,
theaters
or,
auditoriums.
Despite
the
fact
that
many
performances
are
held
within
the
circle
of
a
small
art‐world
group,
RoseLee
Goldberg
notes,
in
Performance
Art:
From
Futurism
to
the
Present
that
"performance
has
been
a
way
of
appealing
directly
to
a
large
public,
as
well
as
shocking
audiences
into
reassessing
their
own
notions
of
art
and
its
relation
to
culture.
Conversely,
public
interest
in
the
medium,
especially
in
the
1980s,
stems
from
an
apparent
desire
of
that
public
to
gain
access
to
the
art
world,
to
be
a
spectator
of
its
ritual
and
its
distinct
community,
and
to
be
surprised
by
the
unexpected,
always
unorthodox
presentations
that
the
artists
devise.”
Allan
Kaprow’s
performance
art
attempted
to
integrate
art
and
life.
Through
Happenings,
the
separation
between
life,
art,
artist,
and
audience
becomes
blurred.
The
Happening
allows
the
artist
to
experiment
with
body
motion,
recorded
sounds,
written
and
spoken
texts,
and
even
smells.
One
of
Kaprow's
earliest
Happenings
was
the
"Happenings
in
the
New
York
Scene,"
written
in
1961
as
the
form
was
developing.
Genres
Performance
art
genres
include
body
art,
fluxus,
happening,
action
poetry,
and
intermedia.
Some
artists,
e.g.
the
Viennese
Actionists
and
neo‐Dadaists,
prefer
to
use
the
terms
live
art,
"action
art",
intervention
or
"manoeuvre"
to
describe
their
activities.
These
activities
are
also
sometimes
referred
to
simply
as
"actions"