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Art, performing

DOI
10.4324/9780415249126-M034-2
Versions
Published
2010
DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-M034-2
Version: v2,  Published online: 2010
Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/art-performing/v-2

6. Performance art

Performance art arose as a movement in the 1960s that was characterized most clearly by the traditional notions that it rejected and challenged: that the work of art is a permanent, public, material object that can be bought and sold; that art forms are characterized by their distinctive media and that works should be media pure; that performance involves the presentation of a texted work; and that the work of art should be distinct from the everyday and its performers should be distinct from its audience. Construed positively, the movement has been very diverse, but the following features are characteristic: Performance artists sometimes use their bodies as their medium and in other cases create immaterial works, including ephemeral happenings, conceptual artworks, or unenacted instructions for events or constructions. Singular art events and works enacted away from the public setting often are photographically documented, and it is these photographs and films that take the place of the work in the art gallery or museum. Performance artworks usually involve multiple media and often incorporate everyday objects, but without placing them on a pedestal for contemplation. They have an unscripted character that emphasizes spectacle over narrative and they often allow the audience into the work, possibly as cocreators. Performance artworks are frequently light-hearted and humorous or politically or morally provocative rather than conventionally serious.

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Citing this article:
Davies, Stephen. Performance art. Art, performing, 2010, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-M034-2. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/art-performing/v-2/sections/performance-art.
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