Aspects of Performance Art[edit]

Another aspect of performance that grew in popularity in the early 20th century is Performance art. The
origins of Performance art started with Dada and Russian constructivism groups, focusing on avant-garde
poetry readings and live paintings meant to be viewed by an audience. It can be scripted or completely
improvised and includes audience participation if desired. [8]
The emergence of Abstract expressionism in the 1950s with Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning gave
way to Action painting, a technique that emphasized the dynamic movements of artists as they splattered
paint and other media on canvas or glass. For these artists, the motion of putting paint on canvas was just
as valuable as the finished painting, and so it was common for artists to document their work in film; such as
the short film Jackson Pollock 51(1951), featuring Pollock dripping paint onto a massive canvas on his
studio floor.[9] Situationists in France, led by Guy Debord, married avant-garde art with revolutionary politics
to incite everyday acts of anarchy. The "Naked City Map" (1957) fragments the 19 sections of Paris,
featuring the technique of Détournement and abstraction of the traditional environment, deconstructing the
geometry and order of a typical city map.[10]
At the New School for Social Research in New York, John Cage and Allan Kaprow became involved in
developing Happening performance art. These carefully scripted one-off events incorporated the audience
into acts of chaos and spontaneity. These happenings challenged traditional art conventions and
encouraged artists to carefully consider the role of an audience. [11] In Japan, the 1954 Gutai group led by
Yoshihara Jiro, Kanayma Akira, Murakami Saburo, Kazuo Shiraga, and Shimamoto Shozo made the
materials of art-making come to life with body movement and blurring the line between art and
theater. Kazuo Shiraga's Challenging Mud (1955) is a performance of the artist rolling and moving in mud,
using their body as the art-making tool, and emphasizing the temporary nature of performance art.

Carolee Schneemann performing Interior Scroll 1975

Valie Export, an Austrian artist born Waltraud Lehner, performed "Tap and Touch Cinema" in 1968. She
walked around the streets in Vienna during a film festival wearing a styrofoam box with a curtain over her
chest. Bystanders were asked to put their hands inside the box and touch her bare chest. This commentary
on women sexualization in film focused on the sense of touch rather than sight. [12] Adrian Piper and her
performance Catalysis III (1970) featured the artist walking down New York City streets with her outfit
painted white and a sign across her chest that said "wet paint." She was interested in the invisible social and
racial dynamics in America and was determined to encourage civic-mindedness and interruption of the
system.[13][14] Carolee Schneemann, American artist, performed Interior Scroll in 1975, where she unrolls
Super-8 film "Kitsch's Last Meal" from her genitals. This nude performance contributes to a discourse on
femininity, sexualization, and film.

Performance state[edit]
English rock band Deep Purple performing in Hoyos del Espino, Spain (2013)

Williams and Krane define the characteristics of an ideal performance state: [15]

 Absence of fear
 Not thinking about the performance
 Adaptive focus on the activity
 A sense of effortlessness and belief in confidence or self-efficacy
 A sense of personal control
 A distortion of time and space where time does not affect the activity
Other related factors are: motivation to achieve success or avoid failure, task relevant attention, positive self-
talk, and cognitive regulation to achieve automaticity. Performance is also dependent on adaptation of eight
areas: Handling crisis, managing stress, creative problem solving, knowing necessary functional tools and
skills, agile management of complex processes, interpersonal adaptability, cultural adaptability, and physical
fitness.[16] Performance is not always a result of practice, but rather about honing in a skill. Over practicing
itself can result in failure due to ego depletion.[17]
According to Andranik Tangian, the best results are achieved when spontaneity and even improvisation are
backed up by rational elements that arrange means of expression in a certain structure, supporting the
communication (not just verbal) with the audience.[18][19]

Stage fright[edit]

Kristin Chenoweth performs the national anthem of the United States at a baseball game

Theatrical performances, especially when the audience is limited to only a few observers, can lead to
significant increases in the performer's heart rate. This increase takes place in several stages relative to the
performance itself, including anticipatory activation (one minute before the start of subject's speaking role),
confrontation activation (during the subject's speaking role, at which point their heart rate peaks) and release
period (one minute after the conclusion of the subject's speech).[20] The same physiological reactions can be
experienced in other mediums such as instrumental performance. When experiments were conducted to
determine whether there was a correlation between audience size and heart rate (an indicator of anxiety) of
instrumental performers, the researcher's findings ran contrary to previous studies, showing a positive
correlation rather than a negative one.[21]
Heart rate shares a strong, positive correlation with the self reported anxiety of performers.[22] Other
physiological responses to public performance include perspiration, secretion of the adrenal glands, and
increased blood pressure.[23]