What is Performance Art?

The question and resulting definition of what constitutes as "performance art" cannot easily be explained in a single sentence. The conversation surrounding the topic goes deep, and as the essay "What is Performance Art" by Amanda Coogan (2011) points out, there’s more to performance art than what meets the eye. The essay touches upon the key components of performance art, its history, the ties (or disassociations) it has compared to theatre, the versatility of performance art to exist outside of museums and galleries, the types of performance art that exists, the technologies that can be involved, whether performance art must be live or not, and ultimately the relation performance art has with the audience.

Extended Summary

Coogan (2011) first lays out the initial framework of the key components that make up performance art: "live presence of the artist and the real actions of his/her body" (pg. 4), the creation of an "ephemeral art experience" for the audience, the body as the primary medium for which "performance art is based," as well as the "time, space and the relationship between performer and the audience." The essays, and this summary, will go into each of these components with more detail.

Further, the essay goes on to explain how performance art is not a new concept. Coogan (2011) points out that performance art has various ties and associations with medieval performances (pg. 5), but is more commonly linked to Avant-Garde artists from the twentieth century. These artists and therefore the practice of performance art was then associated with popular art movements, including but not limited to "Futurism, Constructivism, Agitprop, Dada, Surrealism, and Bauhaus."

Coogan (2011) also makes it a point to distinguish performance art from theatre and drama. Coogan (2011) states that performance art "rarely employs pot or narrative" (pg. 5), and that it can be "spontaneous, one-off, durational, improvised or rehearsed and performed with or without scripts." This makes performance art the ideal platform for improvisation, and also gives the artist more flexibility by allowing them to be "the performer, creator and director of the performance." The essay also includes how, at times, it is easy to blur the line between theatre and performance art, as they can often be influenced by each other.

Also separating performance art from theatre, as Coogan (2011) points out, is that performance art was able to escape the need of a venue (pg. 6). This meant that performance art did not need to be performed in a formal auditorium, a museum, or a gallery. In fact, it often worked best out in public and on the streets. This provided performance artists with even more flexibility, and even gave rise to new forms of art performances. These new forms included "activist-based performances" (pg. 7) such as "activist art, street art, and guerrilla theatre." Coogan (2011) clarifies that these new types of performance art were often created to bring attention to social and political issues.

Additionally, Coogan (2011) explains that performance art can and often does include various technologies, such as photography, film, and video as a central role to their production (pg. 7). These mediums helped performance art reach a "wider public" and also created a subset of art forms such as "video art, sound art, and installation art."

These technologies also allow a performance to be recorded and played back at a later time. This fact sparked the question on whether performance art must be performed live or not. Coogan (2011) states that while some would argue that performance art should be ephemeral (pg. 15), many artists argue that "performance practice [is] not contingent on the presence of a live audience" (pg. 14). In fact, Coogan (2011) clarifies that "artworks [are] called performance art simply when artists [use] the body." She backs this up with quotes from artists such as Amelia Jones, who is known to prefer mediated presentations, such as photographs or videos, for her work.

Ultimately this question then leads to how the audience ties in with performance art. Coogan (2011) is quick to say that the audience plays an integral part in performance art, especially when it comes to determining the work’s "meaning." (pg. 5). To elaborate, Coogan (2011) states that "live performance lives in the experimental, a process made public, an encounter inviting the viewer to engage, bringing their own personal meaning to the work." (pg. 17).

Finally, another common theme in Coogan’s (2011) essay is that performance art is interdisciplinary (pg. 9). Performance art, by its very nature, is extremely versatile. An artist can incorporate aspects of theatre, dance, and other visual arts. It invites collaboration (pg. 6) with other artists, and interactivity (participation) with the audience. Performance art’s versatility has inevitably helped it grow in popularity over the years. In fact, Coogan (2011) finishes her essay by talking about how performance art is making its way back into museums and galleries by popular demand (pg, 19), further legitimizing it as a powerful art form.

In conclusion, it is true that performance art is not a simple concept. Coogan (2011) calls it "complex" (pg. 19), as it is many different things to many different people. It also goes by many names (live art, body art, performance practice, and so forth). Despite this complexity in coming up with a definition, one thing is for certain: performance art is here to stay.

Example Performance Artist

Two people that have made a name for themselves as world-renowned performance artists are Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore. Together, they are better known simply as Gilbert & George. Easily identified as two men creating art in suits, Gilbert & George have intrigued audiences with such works as The Singing Sculpture (right), where they stood on a table together, in front of a live audience, covered in metallic paint, and sang "Underneath the Arches" by Flanagan and Allen. This performance, which first took place in 1970, undoubtably set the stage for similar performance art often found being performed today on the sidewalks in popular tourist destinations around the world.

What makes Gilbert & George's work "performance art" is that they use their bodies as an integral part of their art. They also display this art live in front of an audience, allowing that audience to create their own interpretations based on what they are seeing before them. Further, while The Singing Sculpture was first performed in the Nigal Greenwood Gallery, it is very easy to imagine the same performance happening outside of a gallery setting -- meaning it can be performed anywhere, at any time. All of these elements are mentioned in Amanda Coogan's "What is Performance Art?" article.