performance art

noun

: a nontraditional art form often with political or topical themes that typically features a live presentation to an audience or onlookers (as on a street) and draws on such arts as acting, poetry, music, dance, or painting
performance artist noun

Examples of performance art in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The terrorist group has dragooned its hostages, Jewish and not, into perverse performance art. Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 25 Feb. 2025 There’s a daring sleight of hand that verges on filmed performance art, Elisabeth’s psychological engulfment literalized as her fellow parents (really, the PTA from hell) descend upon her. Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 5 Feb. 2025 While away from the spotlight, Moretti has founded a community of craftspeople who take pride in making things by hand, cracking oysters in search of pearls and immersing themselves in performance arts, while worshipping their messiah in human form. Tomris Laffly, Variety, 28 Jan. 2025 This can’t be about how the men the Jets are considering right now are coming across in interviews that are so often nothing more than performance art. Mike Lupica, New York Daily News, 16 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for performance art

Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of performance art was in 1971

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Cite this Entry

“Performance art.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/performance%20art. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.

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