Coming directly from many movements, such as Futurism, Dadaism and Surrealism, the art of performance includes various forms of art, played live in front of an audience.
Appeared to XXE CENTURY, first when the futurists read their manifestos to the public and that the dadaïstes made senseless presentations, then when the surrealists took avant-garde productions up, art performance became a possible alternative in painting and in traditional sculpture. In 1957, in the United States, Allan Kaprow (1927-2006) used the term happenings to describe live artistic performances, which were then adopted by various artists around the world. These first performances focused mainly on the body, and are therefore often described as body art. Performance art predominated in the 1960s, but the genre never disappeared and was interpreted by a wide variety of artists expressing many different points of view, often challenging conventional visual art. It is an extremely diverse work, ranging from actions and activities to repeated rituals and tasks, and it often seems absurd (according to Dadaist traditions) or resembles a form of entertainment that accompanies Pop Art in the use of mass culture.

Many of the early performance artists were inspired by photographs taken in the 1950s by Hans Namuth (1915-1990) showing Jackson Pollock's painting. Other forms of performance art are described as "actions." Joseph Beuys, among others, preferred this term because he distinguished artistic performances from conventional theatrical performances. Actions often involved complex allegories of social and political issues.

MAIN ARTISTS: YVES KLEIN • VITO ACCONCI • JOSEPH BEUYS • BRUCE NAUMAN • MARINA ABRAMOVIC