Performance Art Festivals

Action Art / Live Art / Performance Art Festivals.

Where to look for Festival opportunities around the globe, whether you are a performance artist or want to see more performance art works as a participant.

Performance Art Festivals and Presenters:

Africa

• 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (Morocco)
• AFiRIperFOMA Biennial (Zimbabwe)
• Biennale of Contemporary African Art (Senegal)
• Crossing Boundaries Performing Arts Festival and Conference (Ethiopia)
• Emomé Art Festival – (Togo)
• ICA Live Art Festival (South Africa)
• Láyípo Performance Festival – University of Ibadan (Nigeria)
• Live Art Festival– (South Africa)
• Porlwi (Mauritius)
• Ubumuntu Arts Festival (Rwanda)

Asia

• Artist as Activist (Japan) – Annual performance art event/festival aiming to create a new relation to Tokyo and its History, culture, environment and local citizen.
• ASIATOPIA Performance Art Festival (Bangkok – Chiangmai, Thailand)
• Bandung Performance Art Festival (Indonesia) Annual performance art festival.
• Beyond Pressure (Myanmar) – International Performance Festival
• Bucheon International Performance Art Festival (BIPAF) (South Korea)
• DaDao Live Art Festival (China) – Annual festival of performance art
• DIAF – Dashanzi International Art Festival (China) –
• Future of Imagination (Singapore)
• Gimcheon International Performance Art Festival (GIPAF) (South Korea)
• Gwangju Biennale (South Korea)
• Hong Kong Performance Art On the Move Project ( Hong Kong)
• Islands Time-Based Art Festival (Singapore)
• Jakarta International Performance Art Festival (JIPAF) (India)
• M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (Singapore)
• new world disorder (Philippines) – artist collective, producer
• New Zero Art Space (Burma)
• NIPAF – Nippon International Performance Art Festival (Japan)
• Open Art Festival (China) – Annual performance art festival
• OPEN International Performance Art Festival (China)
• Open Art Platform: International Performance Art Festival (China)
• Open International Performance Art Festival ( China)
• Padepokan Lemah Putih Solo (Indonesia) –
• Performance Site Myanmar 05 (Myanmar)
• Philippine International Performance Art Festival (PIPAF)
• R.I.T.E.S – Rooted in the Ephemeral Speak (Singapore)
• Satu Kali (Malaysia) -An organisation exploring and promoting performance art in Malaysia.
• Taiwan International Performance Art Festival (TIPAF, later renamed TIPALive)
• TIPALive – Taiwan International Performance Art Festival or here
• Trigger (UK)
• Tupada International Action Art Event (Philippines) – artist-organized international performance art event in the Philippines
• Ugnayan PIPAF – Philippine Performance Art Festival (Philippines)

Central America /Caribbean

• ArtIncidence (Martinique)
• Biennial Havana (Cuba)
• Curacao HOA Gallery genz Queer Performance Art Festival (Brasil)
• EJECT, V festival (Mexico)
• Encuentro (Various countries in the Americas)
• Festival Internacional de Performance de Choroni
• Festival Muscopio-video arte itinerante de Mexico
• International festival of performance art in Martinique (Martinique)
• Live Art Mexico

Europe

• 19 Bone Performance Art Festival (Switzerland)
• ABIERTO DE ACCION (Spain) – festival
• Accion – International Festival of Action Art (Spain)
• Act Art (UK) -ACT ART programmes performance, live art, time-based media, visual art and interdisciplinary works,
• Amorph – International Performance Art Festival (Finland) – International Performance Art festival based in Helsinki
• ANTI Contemporary Art Festival (Finland) – festival
• ARS Electronica (Austria)
• Art Action Festival (Italy) – Annual performance art festival.
• ARTefACTe (Spain)
• Art Service Association (Germany) – producer, network, archive
• Balcony Festival (Portugal)
• Bbeyond (N.Ireland) – artist-run centre, collective, network
• Bone Performance Art Festival (Switzerland)
• Carbonarium festival (Ukraine)
• Castle of the Imagination (Poland) – festival
• Centrum Kultury w Lublinie (Poland) – producer (curator: Waldemar Tatarczuk)
• City of Women ( Slovenia) – The annual International Festival of Contemporary Arts
• club8 difusió de la performance (Spain) – producer of eBent International Performance Festival of Barcelona
• Contenedores – International Festival of Action Art (Spain)
• CPP – Contemporary Performance Practices (Croatia)
• DAMPF – Internationales Festival für Tanz, Medien und Performancekunst (Germany) A festival that takes a look at the different phases between dance, media and performance art. tanz performance köln
• Diskurs Festival (Germany) –
• eBent Performance Festival (Spain) – Ebent ofrece un espacio a la práctica, al debate, a la documentación e investigación del Arte de acción.
• Eco Future Performance Festival (Romania)
• EPAF – European Performance Art Festival (Poland) – Annual performance art festival.
• Eurokaz ( Croatia) – Festival of international, experimental theatre and performance art.
• EXCHANGE LIVE ART (Spain) – residency, laboratory project
• Experimenta (UK)
• Expo Festival of Performance (UK)
• Faki Festival – (Croatia) online streaming and live
• FAR (Festival des Arts Vivants) ( Nyon, Switzerland)
• FARaway – Festival des Arts à Reims (Reims, France)
• Festival of Experimental Live Arts UPROOTED Fake Nations, Helsinki, (Finland)
• Festival Perform (France)
• Fierce Festival (UK)
• FIX Performance Art Festival (UK) – Fix is the oldest Artistic Biennial in the UK, and devoted entirely to the cutting edge of Performance Art.
• Four Days Festival ( Czech Republic)
• GalataPerform (Turkey) – an artist-run interdisciplinary performance venue in Istanbul
• Goteborg Dance and Theatre Festival (sweden)
• Hull Time Based Arts (UK) – producer, ROOT Festival
• Infr’action (France) – festival
• Inport (Estonia) – Annual video festival concentrating on performance art related material.
• Interakcje (Poland) – INTERACTIONS is annual International Art Meeting, especially performance art, but also video/sound art and installations.
• Interactions Festival (Italy) – Inter national Workshop Festival of Performances, Performing Arts, VideoArt & Installations.
• Interakcje Art Action Meeting (Poland) – festival
• International Interdisciplinary Collaborative Arts Festivals (Czech Republic) – CESTA has presented a range of interdisciplinary arts festivals over the years.
• International Festival of Performance Art (other link) (Denmark)
• IMAF (Serbia)
• International Multimedial Art Festival (Serbia) – festival
• International Performance Art Festival Navinki (Belarus) – festival
• International Performance Art Turbine Giswil (Switzerland)
• IPAF (Denmark)
• Klapstuk Festival (Belgium)
• Kyiv international performance art festival (Ukraine)
• Là-bas (Finland) – producer
• The gathering of Action Poetry and Performance Artists, La Muga Caula
• Live Action Gothenberg (Sweden) – festival
• Live Art Danmark (DK)
• Live Art Falmouth (UK)
• Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (UK)
• Locus  (UK) – producer
• London Performance Art Festival
• Long’Action (France) – festival
• Momentum Festival (Belgium)
• Movement to Performance Festival (finland)
• NADA Sevilla Contemporary Art Fair (Spain)
• National Festival of Performance Art (Denmark)
• National Review of Live Art (UK – Scotland)
• Navinki International Performance Festival (Belarus)
• New Moves International Ltd (UK – Scotland)
• New Performance Turku festival (Turkey)
• NOW! Festival of Improvisation (Berlin, Germany)
• Ornic’art (France) Organisation promoting performance art and organising workshops and an annual festival. Also maintains a French language blog of performance resources.
• O U I Performance (UK) – organization
• Uovo Performing Arts Festival (Italy) – Festival of experimental dance and theatre.
• Pals festival (Sweden)
• Pequeño Evento Performance Art – Spain
• Perfect Performance (Sweden)
• Perforacije – week of live art (Croatia)
• Performance Art Congress (Germany)
• Performance Art Event (PAE) (Netherlands)
• Performance Art Kyiv (Ukraine)
• PAR®️Performance Art Rome (Italy)
• PerformInstanbul (Turkey)
• Performance N’ Tha (UK, London)
• Performance Platform (UK)
• Perforum (Switzerland)
• Plateaux Festival (Germany) – Plateaux is an international production festival for young artists in the field of experimental theatre, performance and live-art.
• Private Impact Live Art Festival (Poland)
• Random Institute
• RestCycling Art Projektbüro (Germany) international RestCycling Art Festival
• SPILL Festival of Performance (UK)
• Springtides – International Performance Festival (Germany) –
• Steirischer Herbst Festival (Austria)
• Stromereien Performance Festival (Switzerland) – The main focus of the festival is the human body in motion in an urban landscape.
• Tampere International Theatre Festival (Finland)
• Tartu International Theatre Fest (Estonia)
• Territori Ibiza Performance Art Festival (Spain)
• Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art (Greece)
• Thessaloniki Biennale (Greece) – festival
• Time Festival (Belgium)
• Trace: installaction art space (Wales) – producer
• Trailer Park (UK) -Trailerpark is dedicated to showcasing new innovative and challenging interdisciplinary artworks within the public arena.
• Transformation Festival (Serbia) – Annual festival presenting of alternative actions in the city space and opening any communicative possibilities
• transitstation – transitstation is an ongoing international exhibition-as-live-art event featuring performance art, music, experimental electronica, physical theatre, poetry, video, mixed-media projection, installation, interactive performance, fashion, lectures, workshops and interviews. (Denmark)
• Trigger Stuff (UK)
• Troubles Festival of European Live Art (Belgium) – festival of Live Art based at Les Halles in Brussels
• Urban Festival – (Croatia) festival
• Venice International Performance Art Week
• Visions – The Festival of Visual Performance (UK)
• Wiener Festwochen (Austria) – Large Summer festival including contemporay theatre, dance and occassionally performance art.

Middle East

• Blurrr Biennial for Performance Art (Israel) – festival
• miklat 209 (shelter 209) – performance art platform (Israel) – producer
• Zaz Festival – Performance Art in Motion (Israel) – The ZAZ Festival for performance art is a unique initiative in Israel.

North America

• 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts – (USA) producer, enteractive Language Festival
• 7A*11D International Festival of Performance Art (Canada)
• Bubbly Creek Performance Art Assembly (US, Chicago)
• Currency International Festival of Performance (USA) – festival
• Encuentro (Various countries in the Americas)
• FADO Performance Art Center (Canada)
• Festival d’arts vivants (Canada)
• Franklin Furnace (USA)
• Fringe Festivals US
• Full Nelson (US) – festival
• GNO (Canada)
• INSITU site specific dance Festival (NY, US)
• Live! (Vancouver, Canada)
• LIVE Performance Art Biennale (Canada) LIVE Biennial of Performance Art is a 6 week performance art festival in Vancouver, Canada. It is a collaboration between 20 art organizations and produced by the recently formed LIVE Society. Biennale in October on odd years.
• Mobius (US) – artist collective, producer
• Out of Site (Chicago)
• Pacific Standard Time Festival: Live Art
• Pals festival (Sweden)
• Performance Art USA, PAUSA (USA)
• Performa (US, New York)
• PERFORMANCE ART FESTIVAL (US)
• Performance is Alive (Brooklyn, NY)
• Philadelphia Live Arts Festival (US, Philadelphia)
• Rapid Pulse International Performance Art Festival (United States, Chicago)
• Re: Live Performance Lab (US)
• Satellite Art Show (US- various)
• Site, out of Site – Flow Symposium – (US – Chicago)
• Signal and Noise Festival (Canada) – Sonic arts festival that includes a programme of performance art.
• TBA – Time Based Art Festival (US, Portland)
• Test Performance and The Present Tense (US – Boston) – TEST is a series of performance art events that occur on a quarterly basis
• Trigger Festival
• VIVA! Art Action (Montreal, Canada)
• Yellowfish (US)

Oceana

• Adelaide Festival (Australia) bi-annual festival
• Adelaide Fringe Festival (Australia)
• Exist (Australia) -a set of Live Art explorations, collaborations, installations, performances and forums held at three sites across Queensland
• Live Art Asia Festival (Australia) A survey of contemporary live art practice from the region.
• Papilla: It’s a matter of taste – (New Zealand) The festival is a platform for research-based works exploring the material, conceptual, sensorial, and experiential aspects of taste, as well as its social-aesthetic extensions. Live performances and other creative responses are compiling this three-day event that seeks to celebrate multi-dimensional aspects of papillae. 
• PAWA Performance Art Platform in Aotearoa (New Zealand)

South America

• Festival internacional de Perfomance-art y Formatos Audiovisuales – Festival Internacional de Performance-art y Formatos Audiovisuales (FIPFA), aborda las confluencias y desarrollos entre dos campos artísticos desde su producción de pensamiento crítico y experimentación.
• Ars Electronica Festival (Chile)
• Calle – Bienal Del Performance (Bolivia)
• Curacao HOA Gallery genz Queer Performance Art Festival (Brasil)
• Encuentro (Various countries in the Americas)
• In Transit International Performance Festival – (Chile)
• Live Art Mexico (Mexico)
• PAS Festival de performance art de Bogotá (Columbia)
• PerfoPuerto (Chile) – festival, producer
• Santiago a Mil (Chili)
• Santiago Off (Chili)
• TRAMPOLIM_plataforma do encontro con a arte de performance (Brazil, Vitoria)
• Verbo Festival (Brazil) – Annual performance art festival featuring regional and international artists
• Zondadearte (Argentina) Organisation that presents an annual festival of action art.

Virtual

• International Association of Performance Art Organizers (International) – network, listserv
• Online Performance Art Festival
• Random Institute
• Un/Cube

Venues

Major venues for experimental art, emphasizing live and performance art.

• Black Mountain College, fl. c1948-mid-50s.
• ICA – Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, est. 1949.
• The Kitchen, New York, est. 1971.
• Western Front, Vancouver, est. 1973.
• De Appel, Amsterdam, est. 1975.
• Franklin Furnace, New York, est. 1975. Event archive.
• Moltkerei Werkstatt, Cologne, est. 1981.
• FADO Performance Art Centre, Toronto, est. 1993.

Performance Art – resources

• Asian Art Archive: Art into Action: Performance Art Festivals in Asia
• What is Performance Art – IMMA
• Performance Art – Britanica
• Performance Art – Tate Modern
• Performance Art: An Introduction – Khan Academy
• Summary of Performance Art – The Art story
• Wiki Art – Performance Art
• Performance Art – Thought Co
• What is Live Art? – Live Art Development Agency