What is live art?

Immersive, experiential, unusual – it’s easy to recognise live art when we see it, but how exactly to define it?
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Black Hole Theatre & Duda Paiva Company’s Blind at the Festival of Live Art. Photo: Patrick Argirakis

As an art form, Live Art has been around for decades, but it’s only been relatively recently that the practice has come to be recognised outside the circles of its practitioners and aficionados. Consequently, despite Live Art finding a home in Fringe festivals and other programs, artists working in the field can still expect blank looks and raised eyebrows when they mention their specific area of practice.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts