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

• performance artist noun

Etymology

Origin of performance art

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

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

Think of an Egyptian Lover set as a piece of performance art that takes you somewhere both far away and eerily familiar — yesterday, tomorrow, Egypt, South-Central.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025

The exhibition displays over 200 different works drawn from the multiple disciplines Ono has engaged with across almost seven decades, whether film, music, conceptual or performance art, and also includes her continuing peace activism.

From Salon • Nov. 25, 2025

“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