Performance Art

Prem Sahib's performance work "Alleus" is a polyphony of live and pre-recorded voices. The piece re-orders, re-directs and disrupts an incendiary anti-immigration speech delivered by former UK Conservative MP Suella Braverman.

Experimental. Interdisciplinary. Historical. Poetry Slams. Street Theatre.

How have performance artists channeled their talents for our common good? What action can you take today?

If you are an experimental, interdisciplinary or street theatre artist, or if your genre is poetry slams or historical reenactments, here are ways you might harness your creativity and talents to inspire, mobilize and unite people around sociopolitical causes:

  • Engage Local Groups: You can partner with community organizations, activists and marginalized groups to create art that resonates with their experiences and issues. Collaborative projects amplify voices and foster a sense of ownership and empowerment.

  • Occupy Public Areas: Take performances to streets, parks, and other public spaces to reach a broader audience. Public performances break down barriers between artists and the public, making art more accessible and engaging.

  • Go Digital: Utilize social media, live streams, and digital art platforms to reach global audiences. Online performances and campaigns can spread messages quickly and engage people worldwide in real-time discussions.

  • Innovate and Disrupt: Challenge traditional performance formats and incorporate multimedia, audience interaction, and unconventional materials. Pushing artistic boundaries can create memorable and thought-provoking experiences that inspire change.

  • Raise Awareness: Use performances to educate audiences about social justice issues, historical contexts, and the importance of democratic values. Integrate informative elements, such as spoken word, storytelling, and visual aids, to enhance understanding and inspire action.

Engage Local Groups

Petra Kuppers is a disability culture activist. She creates participatory environments that bring live performance approaches, virtual reality, and other technologies to foster joy, connection and creative expression for disabled individuals. The 2023 Guggenheim Fellow is known for her work in engaging communities through performance art.

Occupy Public Areas

Organized by a Canadian anti-consumerist publication, Occupy Wall Street protested economic inequality, corporate greed, big finance and the influence of money in politics. The creative activism began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, and lasted for fifty-nine days.

Go Digital

Jasiri X is an artist and activist using hip-hop, social media, and technology to drive social change. After amassing over two million YouTube views, he felt compelled to train young people in digital media, empowering them to transform their communities and share their often-marginalized stories.

Innovate and Disrupt

The Yes Men impersonate spokespeople and organizations to secretly lampoon sinister people for their ruses and fraudulent announcements of ridiculous decisions. The Yes Men specialize in revealing hoaxes in front of live, unsuspecting audiences. They also happily share their tricks with the rest of us.

Raise Awareness

In one of her performance pieces, María José Contreras Lorenzini occupies the places where the bodies of eleven women lay. The Pinochet dictatorship in Chile killed them during its first four months. As an artist, theatre director and academic, Lorenzini asks (and answers) haunting questions in collaborative and creative ways.

"Imagine Peace Tower" by Yoko Ono.

"Wish Tree for Yoko Ono" has been a series of installations around the world where visitors write down their wishes on small tags of paper and attach them to a live tree. After every Wish Tree installation ends, Ono collects its tags and buries them ceremonially next to the "Imagine Peace Tower," a public installation (and memorial to her late husband John Lennon) on Iceland’s Viðey Island.

Serbian conceptual and performance artist Marina Abramović.
The Last Poets

In 1968, the founding members of The Last Poets stood together in a Harlem park and uttered their first poems in public, creating the blueprint for hip-hop. The group has also been influential in the poetry slam movement, using their performances to address social and political issues.

Are you aware of performance artists who are mobilizing meaningful change in the world with their art form?