Introduction

Fifty Key Performance Artists provides a critical introduction to 50 influential and innovative performance artists from six continents whose work has largely been underrecognized and underacknowledged within English-language contexts. Artists include Arahmaiani, Rebecca Belmore, Rocío Boliver, Lorenza Böttner, Disabled Avant-Garde, Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi aka crazinisT artist, Emily Jacir, Lee Wen, Lorraine O'Grady, Graciela Ovejero Postigo, Tracey Rose, Seiji Shimoda, Leafā Wilson aka Olga Krause, and Marcía X. A tool for scholars and teachers of performance art, solo performance, and contemporary art, as well as 20th- through 21st-century theatre and performance studies, Fifty Key Performance Artists compiles an international and innovative index of artists who, primarily through body art and live performance, define the field. Engaging influential practices that have been impactful within their own geographic locations, this collection compiles a heterogeneous index of artists who have been key in cultivating body art and live performance. Accompanying this collection is both a list of the 50 key performance artists that are often taught, allowing those new to the field to enter existing conversations, as well as a map of both established and emerging performance artists across the globe from which to launch further research.