The network of performance art festivals as an independent art institution: a historical survey
The network of performance art. festivals as an independent art institution: a historical survey

Summary/Abstract: The article offers a historical survey of performance art festivals organised since the 1960s to the present day in selected countries in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Around 120 festivals are listed, which were organised cyclically or as one-time events, yet the focus is put on the beginnings of the festival network. Performance art festivals are mostly international events, organised almost exclusively by performance artists. Participation in a festival requires the artist’s presence, so artistic biographies of all participants are histories both of his/her journeys, as well as of the emergence of the network and of personal relations between artists. They form a rhizomatic network that defines what performance art is and what it is not, creating its theoretical foundations, as well as tools for its evaluation, which makes the network a form of art institution in terms formulated by Arthur Danto and George Dickie.

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