Performance in the Museum

Performance in the Museum charts the main stages of the inclusion of performance in the museum from the 1970s to the present day, offering a thought-provoking and highly readable assessment of some fundamental questions in contemporary curatorial practice. While performance emerged in the late 1960s as an anti-institutional form of art, it has recently gained an extraordinary visibility in contemporary art museums. This book focuses on four specific areas affecting museums: the staging of live performance within exhibitions; the conservation of performance; the acquisition of performance works; and research on performance. What emerges from this study is that the museum, although rarely anticipating the specific issues raised by performance, has assumed a unique position in devising curatorial strategies adapted to this medium.

Through close analysis of a selection of exhibitions and curatorial practices from many different parts of the world, and from specific periods from the past fifty years, this book identifies key moments of the integration of performance into the museum. Despite the recent surge of exhibitions on performance and the part played by museums in this phenomenon, the history of the display, the conservation and the acquisition of live performance has remained largely uncharted. This book therefore makes an essential contribution to both the history of performance and curatorial studies.