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

Examples of performance art in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

There’s a fund that is set aside to make people believe in art, and again, believe in performance art. —

Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 31 Oct. 2024 The documentary feels like a concert with academic footnotes and references or performance art. —

Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Sep. 2024 Lorraine O’Grady, an artist who bravely used her conceptual pieces and performance art to critique systems of power, incisively underlining the ways that class, race, and gender influence one another, died at her home in New York on Friday. —

Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 13 Dec. 2024 The dates will take the form of multimedia concerts blending music, visuals, and performance art. —

Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 5 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for performance art

Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of performance art was in 1971

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Performance art.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/performance%20art. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.

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