How to Appreciate Performance Art

Performance art is the least understood artistic genre because it's relatively new and draws from so many different art forms. Because performance art often focuses on an individual's experience, it can be self-absorbed or confusing. However, good performance art reaches an audience by creating meaningful experiences and metaphor. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Realize that performance art is its own genre, and the genre is diverse, pushing the boundaries of what may be called "art" and also often offering a cultural critique. Though a performance art piece may contain elements of drama, video, music or dance, it's a form of conceptual art and can't be contained by any of these elements.
2. Research the history of performance art to better understand the genre. It has its most direct roots in the 1960s "happenings" staged by such artists as Yves Klein and Yoko Ono. It evolved into a multimedia form, often focused on the artist's bodily experience. You can often find traces of tribal ritual, circus performance and sport in contemporary performance art, but it's usually a highly personal expression.
3. Understand that performance art may not just be a "performance" but can be a way that the artist lives for months or years. For example, Linda Montano attached herself to fellow artist Teching Hsieh with a 7-foot rope and lived this way, without touching each other, for a year, thus exploring the meaning of relationships for herself and leading her audience to do so as well.
4. Become familiar with a range of performance artists. Blue Man Group is a performance art group that's received widespread acclaim and public acceptance. Laurie Anderson is perhaps one of the most well-known individual performance artists, bringing together music, video, slides and text in her performances to reflect on contemporary society. You can find a list of lesser-known performance artists online at The Artists.
5. Seek out performance artists in your community if you live in a large city or an arts-focused town. Check with local galleries, the art departments of colleges and universities, and performance spaces to see if they know of any local artists whose work you can view.
6. Participate in your own performance art. Artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher encourage the public to complete and submit art assignments on their website, Learning to Love You More. Many of the assignments encourage people to take a performance art approach to the work, and all can lead to self-reflective and expressive art. Submitted assignments are posted on the site.
7. Take a class in performance art through your local college or university to better understand and appreciate the art form.

Tips & Warnings

• Performance art is a flexible form that one can do on the street, in a gallery or in a theater setting. It can also be presented online through video or photographic documentation.
• If you don't appreciate one performance artist, look at the work of other artists. The form is so diverse that you can find an artist who speaks to your experience.
• Find out what you'll see before you go to a performance. Though relatively rare, some performance artists may include overt sexuality or violence in their performances. If the performance art is in a gallery or performance space, ask about the content before you attend.
• Not all art departments offer performance art, but if there are performance artists in your community and enough interest in the class, you may be able to convince your local college or university to offer a class.

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