Since the beginning of
Dadaism
Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...
in the
Cabaret Voltaire,
Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
in 1916, many artists have experimented with extreme
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
as a critique of contemporary consumer culture. Some have used bodily fluids such as blood, faeces and urine. Other times they perform self-mutilation. Simulated (artificial) blood has also been used. In the 1960s and 1970s extreme performance was elevated to a movement with the
Viennese actionists. In recent times there has been a resurgence in extreme performance as a response to the increasing alienation some artists feel in the face of today's technological advances.
Artists
Some contemporary artists using extreme performance include:
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Ron Athey
Ron Athey (born December 16, 1961) is an American performance artist associated with body art and with extreme performance art. He has performed in the U.S. and internationally (especially in the UK and Europe). Athey's work explores challenging ...
*
Abel Azcona
Abel Azcona Marcos (born 1 April 1988) is a Spanish artist, specializing in performance art. His work includes installations, sculptures, and video art. He is known as the "''enfant terrible''" of Spanish contemporary art. His first works deal ...
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Franko B
Franko B (born 1960 in Milan) is an Italian performance artist based in London, where he has lived since 1979. He studied fine art at Camberwell College of Arts (1986–87), Chelsea College of Art (1987–90) and the Byam Shaw School of Art (199 ...
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Bob Flanagan
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Yang Zhichao
Yang Zhichao (; born 1963) is a Chinese artist recognized for his extreme and multi-disciplinary performance art.
Biography
Yang was born in 1963 in Gansu, Gansu Province, China. He graduated from the Art Department of Northwest Normal Univers ...
*
Rocío Boliver
Rocío Boliver is a Mexican performance artist who creates body art about gender, sexuality, pain and pleasure. In 1992, Boliver began her career as a performance artist reading her porno-erotic writings. Boliver has a background in video and Me ...
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monochrom
Monochrom (stylised as monochrom) is an international art-technology-philosophy group, publishing house and film production company. It was founded in 1993, and defines itself as "an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop att ...
, e.g.
Eignblunzn
''Eignblunzn'' (also known as Viennese Factionism: Eignblunzn or auto blood sausage) is a 2003 Extreme performance art, performance by Austrian art theory group monochrom and is considered an important work in the group's history and Austrian art ...
,
Buried Alive (performance)
Buried Alive is an art and lecture Extreme performance art, performance series by art-tech group monochrom. The basic concept is to offer willing participants the opportunity of being buried alive in a real coffin underground for fifteen to twenty ...
References
"Some Art's Painful by Design" ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
''.
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External links
The 8 Top Shocking Art Performances. Artiholics.
Performances
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