When the curtain never comes down

Throughout different historical periods and cultures affiliations, singular individuals outside of the art mainstream have created inventive devices that can be associated with “performance art:” ceremonial clothes, mobile sculptures, fragments of ever-changing constructions involving movements, dances, storytelling and songs, and components as diverse as drawings, handmade books and mix-media instruments. Performance art, traditionally interdisciplinary and marked by its non-conformity to conventional artistic media, can be scripted or unscripted, random or meticulously orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. It can be live or via media, so the performer can be present or absent. It can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer’s body (or a presence in a medium), and a relationship between the performer and an audience. Essentially, the actions constitute the work.   Valérie Rousseau