The Concept of Performance Art - Essay Example

Performance art is about framing an action or event for the audience in a way that becomes different from mass entertainment. It makes the audience visualize, mentally and self-consciously, the performances that they connect to in their everyday lives. Performance artists present their ideas to the audience by performing roles that we play in our real lives, like political roles, social relationships, economic functions, and cultural customs and rituals. Performance art makes these roles and relationships unequivocal and more overt so that the audience can relate to them and reflect upon them using their minds and perspectives. However, performance art also needs expertise in singing, dancing, and acting, like other forms of art, to be expressive enough. These skills make the performance compelling, making the minds of the audience sway away to places they have not been before. To name a few performance artists, the mainstream press considers Lady Gaga and Mitt Romney two of the most profound performance artists of today.