A rock can perform the act of rolling, breaking, or sitting. Anything that exists is performing as long as its existence is acknowledgeable. The performer can be living or inanimate. A girl can perform the act of breathing, a fox can perform the act of eating, a plant can perform the act of growing, or dying.
Performance Theory
The term performance is hard to define or categorize, but it's broadness is precisely the characteristic that compels certain artists to work within the field. Performance allows for endless possibilities and experimentation and that is why it is not uncommon for performances to be early manifestations of avant-guarde practices. Limitations or conditions to what performance is are often myths that concur as a byproduct of the conventions of theater. In the following list, I will try to unravel some of these myths as I disambiguate the meaning of the term performance and in doing so, I will hopefully also nullify some limitations that are often given to performance art.
1. To perform means to act or to operate in some sort of context. Therefore, virtually any verb can be performed, with the exception of the ontological verbs to be, and to exist. Something that performs must exist in some way or another (concretely or abstractly). To perform is to assert existence.
2. In most cases, two fundamental units are required in the conception of performance: a performer and a spectator. Any relational action that can be deduced from these two units can be considered a performance.
3. The performer and the spectator need not to be separate entities. A performance does not require a spectator separate from the performer because the performer could potentially be a witness of his own action(s). However, a performance must be perceived in order to exist. Once perceived, the performer-audience-action trichotomy is true and therefore the performance is true.
4. A third unit is the author. The author creates or defines the performance.
5. An author can define a performance before or after the action has been accomplished.
6. The role of the spectator is to witness and not necessarily to be entertained. A performance does not need to be stimulating to the author, performer, or spectator.
Conclusion: Any action can be considered a performance and be analyzed as such. If I move my left foot at this very moment, I can easily justify the motion as a performance as one executed by myself for myself. Then I can analyze the motives, achievements, and repercussions (if any) of that performance and its relationship (or lack of relationship) with theater, semiotics, anthropology, art theory, or anything else that I want to talk about.
Definition of Performance:
A performance has two fundamental definitions:
a. It is the process of accomplishing an action: i.e. the tests show that the machines achieved a commendable performance.
b. It is a comprehensive action or a process that is observed under particular conditions. i.e. His performance in the administration will determine the future of the country.
A third definition is the appropriation of the aforementioned conceptions focusing on the relationship between a performer and an audience. Usually taking place in a proscenium-based setting, it is often used in conjunction with theater, music, or dance. i.e. a theater performance, a dance performance, etc.
Performance art is an appropriation of all of the above, often focusing on the visual aspects of the performance and often observed from an art theoretical perspective. Because of the usual and more conventional associations of the term performance with theater, performances of this sort are usually misinterpreted and/or misunderstood.
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