A performance is broadly defined as either the act of carrying out a task or the staging of an entertainment event like a play or concert. In a professional context, job performance includes both measurable task-specific abilities and contextual behaviors, which are personality-driven contributions supporting organizational culture. Within the performing arts, it refers to artists presenting their work to an audience, with the effectiveness often linked to their skill and competency, as defined by Spencer and McClelland in 1994.

The early 20th century saw the rise of performance art, influenced by movements like Dada and Russian constructivism, which embraced avant-garde poetry readings and live painting, sometimes involving audience participation. By the 1950s, abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock developed "action painting," where the dynamic process of creation, often documented in films like Jackson Pollock 51 (1951), was as vital as the finished piece. Innovators such as John Cage and Allan Kaprow developed "happenings" – carefully scripted, one-off events at the New School for Social Research that challenged traditional art conventions by incorporating chaos and audience spontaneity. In Japan, the 1954 Gutai group, led by Yoshihara Jiro and including Kazuo Shiraga's Challenging Mud (1955), further blurred the lines between art and theater by making art-making materials come alive with body movement.