Performance Art

Fluxus artist Dick Higgins describes a branch of American post-modernism from the 1960s that reflects the tumultuous social atmosphere of the era and its impact on the arts. Higgins attention is focused on Intermedia, a myriad of emerging genres that spilled across the boundaries of traditional media. In the interseces between the arts, mixed-media forms coalesced: Happenings, performance art, kinetic sculpture, electronic theater, as well as a variety of deliberately uncategorizable works – such as in Philip Corner's Piano Activities and his own Danger Music #2 from 1962. Following the example of Marcel Duchamp, Higgins suggests that artists explore the territory that lies between "the general area of art media and those of life media." He calls for unusual combinations of art, including, for instance, the mixing of painting and shoes. With Intermedia, any available object or experience can be incorporated into the artwork. performance art