performance art

American  

noun

1. a collaborative art form originating in the 1970s as a fusion of several artistic media, as painting, film, video, music, drama, and dance, and deriving in part from the 1960s performance happenings.

---

performance art British  

noun

1. a theatrical presentation that incorporates various art forms, such as dance, sculpture, music, etc

---

Other Word Forms

• performance artist
  noun

---

Etymology

Origin of performance art

First recorded in 1970–75

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

performance art

She’s engaging in a piece of performance art with two raging megalomaniacs.

From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026

Ahead of the event, Carden said the "free public joust" was "performance art" in a post on social media.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

The subject—given no hope of recovery, or of a very long life—used performance art to exert control over his body, his world, and the lung disorder that had plagued him since birth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Even “Straight White Men,” which uses the old home-for-the-holidays genre as a springboard, can’t help spinning away from the drama’s droll hyper-naturalism toward something resembling performance art.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

“Yeah, then we’re entering postfood, performance art territory. Which is not pathetic. I appreciate the thought, but please, follow my lead tonight.”

From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---