The Importance Of Performance Art

To me, art used to be the physical evidence of the marvels of human imagination and ability. It used to mean something that not only was appealing to the eye, but it had the immense power of giving rise to the purest of emotions in those lucky enough to be its witness. Being responsible for the conception of feelings through objects seemed the hardest, yet the noblest job. Artists were definitely people to be admired. Art made us reconsider, analyze, and change.

Then, I found performance art. I was amazed by this concept because it is art that does not only make us feel alive, but it is alive. It does not necessarily have to be an inanimate object (though it can be); it can be an action or even the artist per se. As its name says, performance

As a well-developed piece can be really positive and inspiring, a badly thought project can have a negative effect on those viewing it. This is the dark side of the spectrum of performance art. And this side is not dark because of the idea or concept to be investigated, but because of the way it is developed. When art goes dark, the problem goes beyond what is pretty and what is not, and it becomes a dilemma of what is right and what is wrong.

This is when I found out about extreme performance arts. Extreme performance arts could be seen as the black sheep of the family of performance arts. They are usually controversial, scandalous, shocking, and offensive in some way, include violation of rights, or threaten someone’s (the artist or some other party) life or well-being. When arts are taken to the extreme, anything can happen. But when these radical projects come in conflict with supreme moral values of society, that is when the real controversy

This shock is often achieved by either the violation of human rights, exhibition of animal cruelty, display of violence in an explicit or crude way, tasteless sexual references, or the presentation of topics that are “delicate” within the community in a morbid or perverse way. Other methods are through repulsive and horrifying images, or the defiance or disregard for tradition and law. Evidently, this type of art is bound to make the audience feel uncomfortable, scared, and even angry. All this only to send a bold political message, challenging the audience to change their way of thinking. But, who is the one responsible for drawing the