Performance Histories

Historically, the term performance art has been used to refer to a specific art form that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. Although there are many isolated examples of earlier works that could be considered performance art, the movement of the 1960s and 1970s springs up as a widespread demand for the centrality of the living body in a broad range of art practice. This chapter briefly considers artists like Maris Bustamante, Ron Athey, Álvaro Villalobos, and the Chilean group CADA (Colectivo de Acciones de Arte) in their specific contexts so as not to fetishize notions of its origins, specific practices, locations, and authorship.