Body art

Body art is art in which the body, usually the artist's own body, is the primary medium and focus of the work. Instead of depicting the body in painting or sculpture, the artist uses their own physical presence, action, endurance, pain or risk as direct material. Body art is closely linked with performance and often exists only in the moment of execution, surviving afterwards as photographs, video or descriptions. The tendency took shape in the late 1960s and 1970s in the context of conceptual art, feminist thought and a desire to move beyond the traditional object. It raises questions of identity, gender, embodiment, the limits of endurance and the relationship between artist and viewer. Among its well-known representatives are Marina Abramović, who explored the limits of the physical and psychic through long, exhausting actions; Vito Acconci; Chris Burden, who exposed himself to danger; and Ana Mendieta, who joined the body with landscape and ritual. Body art expanded the notion of what can be artistic material and deeply influenced the later development of performance and socially engaged practice.