Anthropology of Art and Performance
Authors: Tchermalykh Nataliya 
Published: June 2024

The anthropology of art and performance is an interdisciplinary research area that emerged from the convergence of social and visual anthropology, sociology of art and performance, visual and museum studies, and cultural studies. Despite its fragmented nature, anthropology of art as a field is marked by theoretical productivity, inherent interdisciplinarity, and empirical depth.

Throughout the 20th century, anthropologists have invested significant theoretical effort in grappling with what can be termed the inherent dilemmas of art and anthropology. These dilemmas, stemming from the ambiguous nature of art as an object of inquiry, persistently resist resolution and remain subjects of debate. Essentially, they revolve around three fundamental questions: Is art a universal category? Should anthropology study what art means, or what it does? Can artists be anthropologists, and can anthropologists be artists?

While trying to tackle these questions, ethnographers, interested in the materiality of objects defined as “art,” have extensively analyzed their trajectories, moving from the peripheries of the art world(s) toward its center(s) while producing all-encompassing systems of categorization of symbolically and aesthetically meaningful objects. At the same time, criticism of the universal validity of the category of art has been decentered by the ascendance of the global art market and the proliferation of its centers in post-colonial contexts, attracting artists and curators, including those of indigenous origin—adhering to its values. On the global art scene, the categorical boundaries between art, artifact, and commodity have been essentially dissolved, pushing anthropologists and artists to explore each other. These collaborative methodological discussions encompass the limits of multimodal and collaborative ethnographies, as well as curatorial experiments engaging anthropologists, artists, and curators in transversal conversations, moving beyond purely textual representations of anthropological debates.

In contrast to these dilemmas that may at times appear scholastic, the early 21st century offers a potential renewal to the field through the intersection of art and political anthropology. This approach explores artistic and performative occurrences beyond the institutionally defined confines of galleries, museums, and art markets. Consideration of the contemporary phenomenon of global political iconoclasm supports this perspective, observable across diverse regions, including the United States, Western Europe, and postcolonial and postsocialist societies. Although this movement did not originate from officially designated art spaces, it revolved around works of art, such as statues, monuments, murals, and museum collections, involving artists and other actors. Here, art serves as a universally perceptible form of political expression, a tool for social mobilization, a witness to political violence, and a device in memory-making and decolonization. Despite its profound impact, there remains a lack of sufficient ethnographic tools to recognize, describe, and theorize the agency of artistic and performative practices occurring within the global political scene, not just within the realm of art.