If, walking down the street, you saw an unusual action - do not rush to conclusions. Perhaps you have witnessed a performance, which means you have touched modern art.
To the definition of the concept
To understand what a performance is, you should turn to authoritative sources. According to the dictionary of pictorial terms, performance (from the English performance - "performance", "performance", "game", "performance") - a short performance performed by one or more participants in front of the public in an art gallery, museum or in the open air.
This form of contemporary art originated in the late 1960s, incorporating elements of theater, dance, music, and poetry. But for all its eclecticism, performance has a number of features that make it a completely independent phenomenon of today's cultural life.
Distinctive features of performance as an art form
A performance is a well-planned action. It assumes a certain scenario in which everything can be thought out, including the slightest movement. The action becomes like a game, the rules of which are determined by the artist himself.
The artist is of particular importance in action. The author of the performance tries on the role of a certain character and chooses a certain behavioral model that helps to express the idea of the performance.
This assumes that the viewer is not involved in the process. The outsider does not become part of the artistic action, but remains an observer.
The performance protests against traditional artistic principles, does not require the viewer to perceive from the standpoint of familiar art. The action often has an ironic, parodic beginning, aimed at shocking. This expresses the artist's radical aesthetic position.
Famous performance artists and their works
One of the most famous contemporary performance artists is the Yugoslavian artist Marina Abramovich. She began her career in the late 1960s. The first experiments with sound and space date back to this period. However, her collaboration with the Dutch performance artist and photographer Uwe Leysiepen, better known under the pseudonym Ulay, brought her real fame.
A striking example of joint creativity of Abramovich and Ulay is the performance "Relations in Time". The artists, with their backs to each other, braided their hair and were in this position for 16 hours. All this time, there was no one in the gallery except its employees. At the beginning of 5 pm, when Marina and Ulay were already pretty tired, spectators were invited into the hall. The artists managed to hold out for another hour, after which the performance was completed.
