Performance art differs from traditional theater in its rejection of a clear narrative, use of random or chance-based structures, and direct appeal to the audience.
c. 1960 - present
videos + essays
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Shiraga Kazuo, Challenging Mud (Doro ni idomu)
A single dramatic overhead shot captures the artist covered in a viscous mud, struggling to free his left leg from the thickly piled muck atop which he lies.
Gordon Matta-Clark, Splitting
Gordon Matta-Clark’s interventions explored modernist architecture and urban decay.
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Washing/Tracks/Maintenance: Outside (July 23, 1973)
The artist asks us if maintaining can be as important as creating.
The Case for Performance Art
Inserting live bodies into artworks unsettles the delusion that a universal perspective exists.
Marina Abramović, The Artist is Present
Is staring into the eyes of one of the world’s most renowned performance artists scary? Transcendent? Boring?
Vito Acconci, Following Piece
In this stalkery piece, Acconci questions space, time, and the human body on the streets of New York.
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