performance art

noun

: a nontraditional art form often with political or topical themes that typically features a live presentation to an audience or onlookers (as on a street) and draws on such arts as acting, poetry, music, dance, or painting

performance artist noun

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The hair is performance art, a palmier one day, a Medusa nest of towering curls the next. —Karen Heller, Washington Post, 30 Dec. 2022

Whatever the medium, Mr. Graham seemed more interested in exploding genres than fitting into them, making forays into painting, performance art, sculpture and music in his half-century career. —Alex Williams, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2022

The 1975, still continuing their half-performance art/half-bangers tour, recently turned down an opening slot for Ed Sheeran, Healy explained in a September interview with The New York Times. —Brenton Blanchet, Peoplemag, 28 Nov. 2022

The music and media platform is partnering with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Black HERSTORY Live, a two-day multidisciplinary experience of music, art, poetry, dance, and performance art taking place February 24-25. —Brande Victorian, Essence, 15 Nov. 2022

Lavery testified at the end of the second week of hearings, on Oct. 29, after four members of Hollywood Ten had completed their performance art. —Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Oct. 2022

Unmentioned by Xi was the most notorious part of the show: A 26-year-old art student had illegally fired a gun, as part of her performance art, after which she was immediately arrested. —Eva Dou, Washington Post, 5 Oct. 2022

His mother was a fortune teller and a clown, and introduced him to the world of performance art. —The Arizona Republic, 29 Dec. 2022

Although known to many as a punk band, they are best understood as artists working in the tradition of performance art. —Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 16 Dec. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined above