Philosophy
The Aesthetics of Performance and the Role of Audience Interpretation
Quick fact
In performance art, unlike painting or sculpture, there is no lasting artifact — the work exists only in the moment of its execution, and its meaning is completed by the audience's active interpretation, a process Peggy Phelan describes as 'the live act that disappears.'
Why this is interesting
You're watching a dancer freeze mid-motion, and the silence feels louder than any music. But is the art in the dancer's gesture, or in what you make of it?