14 November 2003 - 25 January 2004

	Loie Fuller  Untitled 1905 Courtesy of Jon and Joanne Hendricks Photo credit: Roger Sinek

Lost Histories   

It was only with the invention of photography that performance began to make its mark in the history of art. Prior to this there was no instant means of making a visual record of live events. As film and video equipment became more readily available, artists with access to this technology experimented not only with recording live action but also with the moving images they created.

Many well-known figures in the history of art have been involved in performance during the course of their careers, from scandalous dance performances of the late 1800s to the happenings and actions of the New York loft scene in the 1960s. However the focus on the art object has meant that the ephemeral elements of these artistic practices are often lost or overlooked.

This section of the exhibition uncovers those forgotten performances and positions them alongside the ground-breaking work of others who, at one time, ran the risk of disappearing from art history altogether.

Robert Rauschenberg with Carolyn Brown and Alex Hay Pelican 1963 Film transferred to DVD © Robert Rauschenberg/VAGA, New York/DACS, London 2003