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| A performance artist, with eyes closed, sits motionless for long periods balanced on an uncomfortable railing in Montmartre, Paris, France |
| Performance artists in Jubilee Gardens, London, England, remain perfectly motionless for long periods. Even when asked a question they will not reply |
Performance art is art where the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time, constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time, or 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. It is opposed to painting or sculpture, for example, where an object constitutes the work.
Although performance art could be said to include relatively mainstream activities such as theater, dance, music, and circus-related things like fire breathing, juggling, and gymnastics, these are normally instead known as the performing artsThe performing arts include Broadway theatre, motion pictures, drama, comedy, music, dance, opera, magic and the marching arts, such as brass bands, etc. Artists who participate in these arts are called performers, including actors, comedians, singers, da. Performance art is a term usually reserved to refer to a kind of usually avant gardeMarcel Duchamp's Fountain Avant garde (sometimes avant-garde is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. It is often used to refer to people or actions that are novel or experimental, particularly with respect to the arts and or conceptual artConceptual art sometimes called idea art is art in which the ideas embodied by a piece are more central to the work than the means used to create it. It was described by the artist Sol LeWitt like so: In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most impo which grew out of the visual arts.
Performance art, as the term is usually understood, began to be identified in the 1960sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around with the work of artists such as Allan KaprowAllan Kaprow helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory. His Happenings some 200 of them evolved over the years, and in their present humorous form are nearly indistinguishable from ordinary li, who coined the term happeningA happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered as art. Happenings lack a narrative, are often multi-disciplinary, and frequently seek to involve the audience in the performance in some way. Elements of them may be planned while res, Vito AcconciVito Hannibal Acconci (born January 24, 1940) is a New York-based architect, public landscape designer, and installation artist. Acconci began his career as a poet, editing Nine to Zero with Bernadette Mayer in the late 1960s. Acconci transformed himself, Hermann Nitsch and Joseph Beuys. 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. However, there are accounts of Renaissance artists putting on public performances that could be said to be early ancestors to modern performance art. Some performance artists point to other traditions, ranging from tribal ritual to sporting events. Performance art activity is not confined to European art traditions; many notable practitioners can be found among Asian, Latin American, Third World and First Nations artists.
Performance art genres include body art, fluxus, 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.
Performance artists include: