Perfoactivism: from Three Weeks in May to The Museum of Arte Útil

Abstract

From the very beginning, performance art has been anti-institutional and counter-cultural. Because of that performance artists tended to look for other channels to achieve visibility, often intentionally avoiding it. Since the late 1960s performance art has been exhibited in independent art spaces, at festivals organised by other artists, as well as in public space as guerrilla actions. This paper discusses a subjective selection of the most interesting socially or politically-engaged performances, which at present have taken the form of perfoactivism, functioning outside the art market and popularly understood art institutions. This article is also a review of criticism around artivism, focused on writers such as Gregory Sholette, Boris Groys, Grant Kester, and Claire Bishop.