Performance art is an art form which typically features actions performed by an artist or other participants. It is often immaterial in nature, and can be live or documented in several ways such as recording, photography, or in writing.

The term performance became widely used in the 1970s, even though historically performance art can be dated back to futurist productions and cabaret from the 1910s. The art form had a significant role in the 20^th century avant-garde art movement, providing artists with an alternative to the permanence of more traditional mediums such as painting and sculpture.

It is now widely understood as an integral part of visual art, with the term coming to describe film, video and photographic artworks which depict the actions of artists or others.

Artists represented in this collection include Mona Hatoum, Harold Offeh, Georgina Starr and Franko B.

Image: Mindfully Dizzy, 2019 © Harold Offeh. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2022. Photo: Science Gallery