Performance Art on YouTube

YouTube is fostering new forms of video art. In some cases, the video simply captures a performance. In others, people are collaborating over the Internet to contribute to a piece.

Here is a dance performance staged at the Antwerp Central Train Station on March 23, 2009. Out of nowhere, hundreds of dancers show up and dance to a remix of Do Re Mi from Sound of Music sung by Julie Andrews:





Here is another dance performance, this time in Los Angeles and this time wearing Hammer Pants as a promotion for Hammertime on A&E TV. Here is the so-called flashmob:





In a collaborative piece, the dancer and blogger Stevie Bee Bishop (steviedidit on YouTube) provided the song "Fuck You" by Lily Allen. Collaborators lipsynched their own videos, uploaded them to Bishop, and it all got edited together to create the video.

From steviedidit's youtube entry:

theres a disgusting amount of hate on the internet (especially on youtube!) directed at minority groups (especially the LGBT community) so i was inspired to organize this collab video. i never set out to change the world. i did not make this for the gay haters to see. i wanted to make something light hearted and funny for the victims of gay hate, to teach them to brush off the hate and stand strong and confident as who they are. you're not alone! stevie loves you :)

Here is the Big Fat Gay Collab:





There are other edits of the video here.

New media always spawn new art forms. All the examples above are either about dance or by dancers. I love what I'm seeing so far. Let me know about video art pieces you've seen.