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A performance artist, with eyes closed, sits motionless for long periods balanced on an uncomfortable railing. Montmartre, Paris, France. |
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 arts. Performance art is a term usually reserved to refer to a kind of usually avant garde or conceptual art which grew out of the visual arts.
Performance art, as the term is usually understood, began to be identified in the 1960s with the work of artists such as Allan Kaprow, who coined the term happenings, Vito Acconci, 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. 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.
Genres or strains of performance art include body art, fluxus, action poetry, and intermedia. Some artists prefer to use the terms live art, action art, intervention or manoeuvre to describe their activities.
Sniggling is an activist, prankish form of public performance art, which is typically done in a form in which it is not immediately obvious that a piece of deliberate performance is being delivered.
Performance artists include (Please list in alphabetical order);
- 7:84 Theatre Group
- Alan Abel
- Marina Abramovic
- Vito Acconci
- Laurie Anderson
- Joseph Beuys
- George Brecht
- Alexander Brener
- Stuart Brisley
- Günther Brus
- Chris Burden
- (early period) Cabaret Voltaire
- COUM Transmissions (later Throbbing Gristle)
- EXIT (members Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher later formed Crass)
- Diamanda Galás
- Gilbert and George
- Judas 2 (formed by Pete Wright, formerly of Crass)
- Istvan Kantor / Monty Cantsin
- Allan Kaprow
- Charlotte Moorman
- Otto Muehl
- Hermann Nitsch
- Yoko Ono
- Dennis Oppenheim
- Nam June Paik
- Carolee Schneemann
- David Sherry
- Joey Skaggs
- Litsa Spathi
- Wolf Vostell
- Welfare State Theatre Group
