performancekunst

Performancekunst, or performance art, is a live, time-based genre in which an artist's actions, often involving the body, are presented to an audience in a specific space. The form blends elements from theatre, dance, visual art and music and emphasizes process, presence, and the relationship between performer and spectator. Works are typically unscripted or open-ended, may be durational, site-specific, and frequently rely on conceptual ideas rather than finished objects. Documentation through video, photography or installation is common because the ephemeral nature of the performance challenges traditional art-historical records.

Origins trace to mid-20th-century avant-garde, with roots in Dada, Fluxus and happenings; it developed in the German-speaking world through artists such as Joseph Beuys, who framed social and political action as art, and later through body and action works by others. In the wider international context, performers such as Marina Abramović, Vito Acconci, Yoko Ono and others broadened the field's scope to endurance, audience participation and meditation on the limits of the body and consent.

Key features include live presence, duration, audience interaction or interruption, site-specificity, and a challenge to conventional art hierarchies and the commodification of the art object. Performancekunst is often presented in galleries, museums, theatres, festivals, or public spaces, and has influenced contemporary practices like live art, installation, and participatory art.

Scholars study performancekunst as a dynamic, culturally situated practice shaped by social, political and technological changes. The genre remains active worldwide, with artists using digital media, streaming, and cross-disciplinary collaborations to explore identity, memory, and collective experience.