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.

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performance art British  

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• performance artist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of performance art

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

That is, of course, assuming there is some kind of larger strategy in play here and this isn’t some kind of performance art.

From Salon • May 12, 2026

It’s almost like activism and performance art are one and the same.

From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026

Three years later, in a highly theatrical piece of performance art, he staged a live destruction of his Girl with Balloon at Sotheby's auction house - moments after it was sold for £1m.

From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026

All land art is performance art to some extent, and Michael Heizer spent more than 50 years shaping “City.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026

How does performance art get started, after all?

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini