Unlike the art of painting and sculpture, performance art constitutes four basic factors such as space, time, and body of the artist and the connection of the performer to the audience. This encompasses passion and connectivity. Usually, when people say performance art they thought of circus related things like fire breathing, gymnastics, juggling and many more. They think it is only associated with theater, music and dance.
Performance art is not only evident in the traditions of Europe but may also be seen in Asia, Latin America and United States. This type of art is performed in front of many viewers whether it is integrated with dance, music or total silence but this one is more eccentric unlike the usual performing arts. The show may or may not have a script or could be an ad-lib. The show could be for profit or for charity purpose depending on the theme.
Performance Art started during the 1960s in the United States. At first, this medium is termed as any live form of art that showcase musicians, film makers, poets and a lot more. During this time, they call it as Events, Concerts or Happenings. Although performance art is noticed during the 1960’s, it is still manifested that there are related shows similar to this one even before 1960s. One good example is the Dadaists performance which is a network of poetry. Another one is a theater workshop known as the German Bauhaus which was shown during 1919 that portrays the relationship of sound, light and space.
What is the distinctiveness of Performance Art? Performance Arts are done live. This type of art is literally not saleable but since it is a show, tickets and film rights are sold. This is not bound for any guidelines or rules and very experimental. This mix all types of arts such as painting, sculpture, poetry, music, film footage, dance, dialogue, live animals and fire in one single shot. Quite amazing isn’t it?
Upon watching such art, viewers could get different kinds of emotion. It could be entertaining, horrifying, hilarious or shocking. Of course, each piece is done in order to amaze the crowd that would make the viewers experience a memorable one.
There are well known women who manage to conquer the world of performance art. They find it more interesting because they believe traditional mode of art like painting and sculpture are mostly controlled by men. But there are still men who are great performance artist such as Allan Kaprow and John Cage. In addition to that, some well-known female performance artists have been their previous students. Perhaps the most popular female performance artist is Laurie Anderson. Laurie made great innovations when it comes to performance. She made a neck tie that play music, a violin that talks, and had a pair of sunglasses that features a microphone that would turn its head into a beating orchestra. Of course there’s Meredith Monk, a composer that pioneer modern technique in vocal aspects. Laurie and Monk are not the only women who are known in this field but there are more.
This only shows that performance art is a great way to express one’s individuality as well.
