The standard reference since its first publication in 1979, Performance Art continues its authoritative chronicling of one of the most important art forms to emerge in modern times. Art historian and curator RoseLee Goldberg has updated her magnum opus to reflect the current state of performance in an age where digital and web technologies are becoming increasingly dominant, as she shows how a medium once used in sporadic bursts of artistic dissent has become, over the course of a century, a worldwide phenomenon. Performance is now the medium of choice for many creatives entering the global conversation of art and culture. As the medium has developed across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas it has become one of the most popular art forms for articulating "difference," whether dealing with issues of identity, politics, race, or historical background. Marina Abramovic, Matthew Barney, Sanford Biggers, Tania Bruguera, Patty Chang, Rashid Johnson, Autumn Knight, and Jacolby Satterwhite are among the many new and established artists whose work can now be seen in the context of other innovators in the field from the Futurists and Dadaists to Yves Klein and Laurie Anderson. This updated edition includes more full color illustrations and a new chapter outlining developments in the second decade of the twenty-first century in the fields of dance, architecture, technology, and virtual performance.

Zhang Huan has emerged as one of the most important artists of the past decade, a fearless explorer of the limits of the human body and a key figure in the flourishing Chinese art scene. His earliest performances, including 12 Square Meters, 65 Kilograms, and To Raise the Water-Level in a Fishpond, subjected his body to grueling tests of endurance while addressing the relationship between physical endurance and spiritual tranquility. Zhang 's move to New York in 1998 contributed to establish himself as a widely recognized figure in the international contemporary art world, staging performances in several cities around the globe, including Sydney, Rome, Shanghai and Hamburg where he reflected on his experiences in the cities he visited and his ethnic identity in a foreign land. In 2006 Zhang established a studio in Shanghai, where he began to seek a greater connection to Chinese heritage and history. This marked a new direction in his work, as he turned from performance to sculpture, painting, and installation. Through creating large-scale sculpture in diverse media, such as ash from local Buddhist temples, and with found objects, such as doors from the Chinese countryside homes, Zhang Huan continues to explore new ways to render his interest in the body and its language. A significant aspect of Zhang's new work revolves around his interest in Buddhism. Although Buddhist themes figured indirectly into his early work, they took on a more prominent role after a visit to Tibet in 2005. There, Zhang began to collect fragments of Buddhist sculptures, which he then used as models for massive copper figures. Upon his return to Shanghai, Zhang Huan began to collect ash from local Buddhist temples for use in sculptures and paintings. The use of burnt incense, the product of religious offerings, strengthens the link between his art and Buddhist practices.