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| Performance Art (20th century) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Performance Art (20th century) |
| Birthdate | 20th century |
| Nationality | International |
| Movement | Avant-garde |
Performance Art (20th century) Performance art in the 20th century emerged as an international avant-garde practice intersecting with Dada, Surrealism, Futurism, Constructivism, Fluxus, Situationist International, Minimalism, Conceptual art, Abstract Expressionism, Hard-edge painting. It developed through crosscurrents linking practitioners active in Berlin, Paris, New York City, Tokyo, London and institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum and festivals including Festival d'Avignon, Venice Biennale, Documenta.
The origins trace to early 20th-century ruptures exemplified by Cabaret Voltaire, Marcel Duchamp, Hannah Höch, Kurt Schwitters, Man Ray and performances associated with Futurist Manifesto, Dadaism, Surrealist Manifesto, Bauhaus and the Russian Revolution. Interwar and postwar practices connected to John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky and experimental theater from Jerzy Grotowski and Antonin Artaud informed actions by later figures linked to Allan Kaprow, Yves Klein, Joseph Beuys, Yoko Ono and Nam June Paik. Cold War geopolitics, decolonization movements involving Kwame Nkrumah and Jawaharlal Nehru, and cultural institutions like the Smithsonian Institution shaped funding, touring and reception.
Key movements include Fluxus performances propagated by George Maciunas, La Monte Young, George Brecht, Nam June Paik, and Alfred Jarry-inspired happenings by Allan Kaprow. Conceptual performance intersected with Minimalism advocates such as Sol LeWitt and Donald Judd while body art involved Chris Burden, Marina Abramović, Vito Acconci and Ana Mendieta. Political performance drew on tactics from Situationist International, May 1968 events in France, Anti-Vietnam War protests, and solidarity actions referencing Solidarity (Poland), Black Panther Party, Feminist Art Program, and Gay Liberation Front. Fluxus, Happenings, Body Art, and Ritual Performance existed alongside interdisciplinary hybrids by Laurie Anderson, Carolee Schneemann, Yves Klein, Gordon Matta-Clark.
Seminal works include Allan Kaprow’s Happenings, Joseph Beuys’s actions such as "I Like America and America Likes Me" performed with René Block and at Pace Gallery, Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece at MoMA PS1, Marina Abramović and Ulay’s The Lovers and Imponderabilia staged at Palazzo Strozzi, Chris Burden’s Trans-fixed and Shoot at Artists Space, Carolee Schneemann’s Interior Scroll at University of California, Berkeley, Vito Acconci’s Seedbed at The Kitchen, and Nam June Paik’s televised interventions at Kyoto City University of Arts and WNET. Other influential figures include Meredith Monk, Bruce Nauman, Tania Bruguera, Santiago Sierra, Ana Mendieta, Valie Export, Gina Pane, Alison Knowles, Fluxus Collective participants and John Latham.
Themes encompassed body politics as engaged by Simone de Beauvoir-aligned feminism, race as addressed by Betye Saar-linked activists and Hannah Wilke-influenced critiques, and trauma echoed in works referencing World War II, Vietnam War, and Apartheid. Techniques included endurance art (Marina Abramović, Chris Burden), relational aesthetics antecedents linked to Nicolas Bourriaud debates, audience participation popularized by Allan Kaprow, mediated performance broadcast through television channels like BBC and NBC, and incorporation of video art pioneered by Bill Viola, Nam June Paik, Pipilotti Rist precursors. Media ranged across live action, body modification, sound art related to John Cage and Steve Reich, installation aligned with Robert Smithson, and documentation strategies using Cindy Sherman-adjacent photography and Peter Hujar reportage.
Venues included alternative spaces such as The Kitchen, Artists Space, Whitney Museum of American Art, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Stedelijk Museum, and grassroots centers like ABC No Rio and PS1 Contemporary Art Center. Distribution relied on biennials (Venice Biennale, São Paulo Art Biennial), festivals (Intermedia Festival, Fluxus Festival), artist-run galleries, university galleries at California Institute of the Arts, Rijksakademie, and broadcast networks such as Channel 4 and NHK. International networks involved curators like Marcel Duchamp-era intermediaries and institutions including Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art, Serpentine Galleries, Kunsthalle Bern.
Reception ranged from institutional acclaim at Guggenheim Museum retrospectives to criminal prosecutions like cases invoking obscenity law and municipal ordinances in New York City and London. Critics such as Clement Greenberg, Hal Foster, Lucy Lippard, Robert Hughes and Michael Fried debated authenticity, theatricality, and commodification; controversies involved protests by National Endowment for the Arts opponents, censorship linked to Meese Report-era policy debates, and legal actions in jurisdictions influenced by First Amendment jurisprudence and European public order statutes. Media responses in outlets like The New York Times, Artforum, Frieze, Art in America shaped reputations.
The 20th-century performance lineage informs contemporary practices by artists working in relational aesthetics, social practice such as Tania Bruguera and Theaster Gates, digitally mediated performance on platforms like YouTube and Instagram, and institutional programming at MoMA, Tate Modern, Guggenheim, Serpentine. Pedagogical programs at CalArts, Goldsmiths, Slade School of Fine Art and residencies at Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci perpetuate methodologies. The archive and documentation practices of Hans Ulrich Obrist, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Okwui Enwezor-curated exhibitions, and scholarship by RoseLee Goldberg have cemented performance art’s theoretical frameworks and global diffusion.