On performance, presence, and the politics of the body
Three curators reflect on performance art as a space of immediacy, resistance, and shared experience.
Simge Burhanoğlu: Performance art has always resisted definition. RoseLee, how do you describe its core today?
RoseLee Goldberg: It’s still about presence. That hasn’t changed. Performance exists in time—it’s ephemeral, and that’s its strength. It resists commodification in a way other forms don’t.
Defne Ayas: But at the same time, it’s increasingly institutionalized. How do you reconcile that?
RLG: Institutions have embraced performance, yes—but the essence remains. The body in space, the encounter with an audience. That immediacy cannot be fully contained.
SB: In Istanbul, performance often moves outside traditional spaces. It enters the street, the everyday. That changes the dynamic.
DA: It introduces unpredictability.
RLG: Exactly. And unpredictability is crucial. Performance thrives on it.
SB: There’s also a different relationship with the audience here. It’s less formal, more participatory.
DA: The audience becomes part of the work.
RLG: Which is something we’ve seen globally—but each city shapes it differently.
SB: Today, we’re also dealing with mediation—documentation, digital circulation. Does that affect performance?
DA: It complicates it. The experience of being there cannot be replicated, but documentation creates another layer.
RLG: Documentation has always existed. But now, it’s instantaneous. The question is: does it replace the experience? I would say no.
SB: There’s still something irreplaceable about presence.
DA: Especially now, when so much of our lives are mediated.
RLG: Yes, performance becomes even more important. It reminds us of what it means to be physically present.
SB: The body becomes central again.
DA: And political.
RLG: Always political. The body carries identity, history, conflict. Performance makes that visible.
SB: Do you think performance is becoming more urgent?
RLG: I think it always has been. But perhaps we’re more aware of it now.
DA: There’s also a shift toward intimacy—smaller gestures, quieter works.
SB: Less spectacle, more encounter.
RLG: Which is interesting, because performance has often been associated with extremes. But subtlety can be just as powerful.
DA: It aligns with the idea of slowing down.
SB: And paying attention.
RLG: Exactly. Performance asks us to be present—not just physically, but mentally.
DA: In a way, it resists distraction.
SB: Which feels radical today.
RLG: Very much so.
SB: If we return to the question of reality—how does performance engage with that?
DA: It exposes it. Or destabilizes it.
RLG: It creates a situation where reality is negotiated in real time. There’s no fixed outcome.
SB: It’s a shared construction.
DA: Between artist and audience.RLG: And that’s what makes it powerful. It’s not something you consume—it’s something you experience.
