Banking on ephemerality and obsolescence, performance finds its meaning in the very making of the work and does not necessarily claim to refer to reality. In contrast to theatre, it makes less claim to its 'mimetic' dimension (i.e. sometimes it does not seem to refer to the real world). Moreover, the performer does not perceive himself as an actor but as a 'scenic autobiographer who has a direct relationship to the objects and the situation of enunciation' (Pavis, 2002). In his view, what the performer creates on stage or in the performance space is not fiction but pure or performed reality.

Since the 1990s, performance art produced in countries constrained by oppressive or authoritarian political regimes is often imbued with messages of protest and denunciation. The moving bodies of performers often embody the mistreatment, oppression and abuse of the social body in general. One thinks in particular of the performances of Chinese artists (Ma Liuming, Zhu Ming, Zhang Huan), Middle Eastern artists (Rabih Mroué, Walid Raad, Omer Fast, Guy Ben-Ner, Mika Rottenberg, Tamy Ben-Tor, Keren Cytter) and Latin American artists (Colectivo Arde Arte, Grupo Etcétera, Gabriela León, Emilio García Wehbi).

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References:

• Pavis, P. (2002). Dictionnaire du théâtre. Armand Colin.