Overview

In a painting, the artist uses paint. In a sculpture, they use stone. In Performance Art, the artist uses their own body as the medium. It is not theater (there is no script, no character). It is real life, framed as art. If an artist cuts themselves in a performance, the blood is real. The pain is real.

Core Idea

The core idea is Presence. In our mediated world (TV, internet), we are disconnected from reality. Performance art forces a direct, unmediated confrontation between the artist and the audience. It is often uncomfortable, boring, or shocking, because it demands that you be there and witness it.

Formal Definition

Art in which the medium is the artist’s own body and the artwork takes the form of actions performed by the artist, often in front of a live audience. It emphasizes the four elements: time, space, the performer’s body, and the relationship between performer and audience.

Intuition

Imagine staring at a stranger for one minute. It’s awkward. Now imagine staring at them for 700 hours. That is Marina Abramović’s The Artist is Present. The sheer endurance transforms a simple act (looking) into a profound spiritual and emotional ordeal. It strips away the social masks.

Examples

  • Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0 (1974): She stood still for 6 hours next to a table with 72 objects (rose, feather, knife, gun) and told the audience they could do whatever they wanted to her. By the end, they had cut her clothes off and held the gun to her head. It revealed the darkness of human nature when authority is removed.
  • Chris Burden, Shoot (1971): He had a friend shoot him in the arm with a rifle in a gallery. It was a protest against the Vietnam War—bringing the violence of the war into the safety of the art world.
  • Yoko Ono, Cut Piece (1964): She sat on stage and invited the audience to cut off pieces of her clothing with scissors. It was a meditation on vulnerability and violence against women.

Common Misconceptions

  • It’s acting: In theater, the actor pretends to be Hamlet. In performance art, the artist is themselves. They are not “acting” pain; they are feeling it.
  • It’s just weird: It often uses shock (nudity, blood) not just to be edgy, but to break through the viewer’s apathy.
  • Happenings: The precursor to performance art in the 1950s (Allan Kaprow). Chaotic, improvised events that blurred the line between art and life.
  • Endurance Art: Performance that tests the limits of the body (fasting, staying awake, pain).
  • Social Practice: A modern evolution where the “performance” is a community project (e.g., cooking dinner for a neighborhood) rather than a solo spectacle.

Applications

  • Protest: Political activism (like Pussy Riot) often uses performance art tactics to grab media attention.
  • Therapy: Psychodrama uses performance techniques to help patients act out and resolve trauma.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Narcissism: Critics argue it can be self-indulgent (“Look at me suffering!”).
  • Documentation: Since the art is “live,” once it’s over, it’s gone. Photos and videos are just “souvenirs,” not the work itself. This makes it hard to preserve history.

Further Reading

  • Goldberg, RoseLee. Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present. 1979. (The bible of the field).
  • Abramović, Marina. Walk Through Walls. 2016.
  • Jones, Amelia. Body Art/Performing the Subject. 1998.