Many of us who have an idea of what a Performance Artist is, might struggle to define it in exact terms. This is because it is an art-form without rules or even guidelines. Like any other form of Conceptual Art, it is defined as art if the performance artist says it is. Despite its anarchic nature, there are parameters which govern it: Performance Art has to be performed live, the art itself will involve either the actions of the artist or the body of the artist- and in some instances, both. Also, each performance is unique and cannot be repeated. Given its evolution and development over a number of decades, its definition has changed in line with the cultural milieu in which it has existed at any given time. Its exponents so far have come at it from a variety of different angles: poets, painters, actors, musicians, photographers, film-makers and sometimes, simply someone with an idea or concept they wished to express.
The roots of Performance Artists can be traced back to the early 20th Century, to the Russian constructivists, the Futurists, and followers of Dada, whose poetry ‘performances’ at the famous Cabaret Voltaire nightclub in Zurich, Switzerland were clearly more than an excuse for recitation. But it was In post-war America, and more specifically in New York City, that the foundations for Performance Art were laid by a group of painters, of which the most noted members were Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, who came to be known for ‘Action Painting’ (also sometimes called ‘Abstract Expressionism’). Paint was thrown and splattered, not brushed, onto canvas and it was the act of doing this, rather than the result, which made it not just art, but Performance Art.
It seems hardly surprising then, that it was New York City again which was to be the epicenter of the next major development: the ‘Happenings’ of the late 1950s and 60s, organized by painter Allan Kaprow, which led to ‘The Fluxus Movement’ which in turn, spread from New York all over America, to Europe, and eventually, to Japan. It was Kaprow’s Happenings and the Fluxus Movement which established Performance Art and Performance artists as a valid recognized art form. Kaprow defined a Happening as ‘a game, an adventure, a number of activities engaged in by participants for the sake of playing.’ The barrier between artist and viewer was completely removed so that the viewer could become a part of the piece, whatever it might be. The precedents of poetry and painting set by Dada and Pollock respectively, were now extended to experiments with body motion, written and spoken word, and even smells.
The 1970s saw the emergence of Body Art where the performance artist’s own body could become the ‘canvas’ for a piece. The flesh could be painted and in some cases, even mutilated. Performance artist Chris Burden had himself shot in the fore-arm by an assistant from a distance of 5 meters in his 1971 piece ‘Shoot’. Then in ’74 a few years later in ‘Transfixed’, he was nailed to the roof of a VW Beetle crucifix-fashion. This willingness on the part of the artist to suffer injury in the name of their art raised a few eye-brows in the artistic community. For some, it smacked of sensationalism and to others, even of deliberate masochism for the artist’s own sexual gratification. But as always, a dose of controversy never does a new art-form any significant harm.
It was during the 1980s that Performance Art started to become a part of mainstream entertainment and for the general public, a means of gaining access to the art world. Video Performance Art had already been explored in the 70s by Jud Yaikuf and Nam June Paik- so that with the advancements in technological media which dominated all areas of the Arts in the 80s, Performance Art soon became known as ‘New Media’ in certain circles. Through the late 80s and beyond into the 90s, political change too, played its part in bringing new elements to the art form. The dissolution of Soviet Russia, which in turn freed up the former Eastern Bloc Communist countries in Eastern Europe, introduced a new wave of performance artists whose work up until then, had remained relatively unknown. The same occurred in Cuba and China as the Communist regimes in these countries loosened their severely restrictive attitudes towards their artists and writers. Galleries worldwide, and even museums, now quite frequently feature Performance Art pieces as part of their collections- leading one to believe that it is now as accepted and recognized as any other art-form.