Performance art, when executed well, can engage its audience unlike any other medium. As a result reviews of performance art tend to employ a range of adjectives as varied as: "captivating", "challenging","voyeuristic", "enlightening","erotic", or "harrowing". However it is that one feels about a given piece, the point is always that you do actually feel something. Whatever else can be said of it, performance art does not lend itself to ambivalence.
Performance art is classically defined as a work of art that consists of four elements: space, time, the performer’s body and a relationship between the performer and the audience. This leaves quite a lot of room for expression and a wide range of experiences to be had. If you want to see what it’s all about, you’re in luck as New York City, Berlin and Paris are the triad of the performance art world.
Listed below some top NYC performance artists and venues
Artists
Lisa Levy – Psychoanalysis Live. After kicking around the idea of group psychoanalysis as performance art for years Lisa Levy tried it out one night to unmitigated success. Previous pieces include selling presents from her exboyfriend at the Bronx Museum, and creating a billboard of quotes from art critics slamming artists personally.
Groups
The Imperial Orgy (also here) - The Imperial Orgy puts on top notch shows which incorporate elements of dance, performance art and club nights. An excellent combination if ever there was one.
Venues
The Kitchen – By far the best venue in NYC for performance art. Features dance, art exhibitions, and individual and group performances 512 W. 19th St
The Cutting Room – Wide variety of events concerts, exhibitions as well as performance art. 19 W. 24th Street Williamsburg Art & Historical Center
Sites