The living museum

Yams, mimes, orifices, capitalists—the components of performance art have always been as malleable as the definition of the discipline (if one can call it that) itself. It’s easy to forget that the form was once considered to be visual art—a form that, while rooted in early-20th-century modernism, was specifically associated with a certain time and place: the funky, out-of-control downtown of the ’70s and ’80s. Now, that sort of performance—edgy, outrageous, emblematic of a city willing to take chances—seems to have gone the way of crack houses and padded shoulders.

Performance-art historian RoseLee Goldberg aims to revive that spirit with Performa07, a wide-ranging program of “live art” featuring dance-driven pieces, arty rock-based shows, and anthologies of classic films and videos. “I’m trying to loosen up what we think of as performance,” she says.

In 2005 she organized the first of the biennials. This year’s schedule has been put together by 20 curators (“20 different points of view,” says Goldberg), so don’t expect easy answers to the question, What is performance art now? TONY asked some of the participants (and show highlights) for their opinion.

— Interviews by David Cote, Howard Halle, Gia Kourlas and Elisabeth Vincentelli

	Tamy Ben-Tor, Judensau (with video)
	Carolee Schneemann: “Remains to Be Seen: New and Restored Films and Videos” (with video)
	Yvonne Rainer: RoS Indexical
	Isaac Julien: Cast No Shadow
	Francesco Vezzoli, Cosi’ e (se vi pare) (with video)
	Aïda Ruilova: The Silver Globe (with video)
	Ian Vanek: Japanther in 3-D (Dinosaur Death Dance) (with video)