The POWER of performance lies in it not really being there......

The POWER of Performance lies in it not really being there...


The different between Performance art and other Arts…
Take Sculpture for example: You can go and visit it, you can walk around it, and it’s an unchanging physical thing that has been placed in an environment. In years to come you can revisit it, and it will be the same, you might feel differently, but you are receiving the same information.
A piece of work that is performed only exist for a few moments, there are a limited number of witnesses to the actual event. It exists is a completely different way to other art.
Yes its true there are documentation of the work. In forms of film/images etc but this is never going to be the same as the actual event. You can never re stage the event as it was at first.
The narrative of a performance is very important and takes place in three stages: before/during/after.


‘Performance art is the runt of the litter in contemporary art’.

‘within the history of theatre the real is what the theatre defines itself against’
(Quotes from Unmarked by Peggy Phelan)