Performing for the Camera

Performing for the Camera examines how the photograph has both documented and developed our understanding of performance since the invention of the photographic medium. It engages with both the serious business of art and performance and the humor and improvisation of posing for the camera. The book explores three distinct strands of photographic practice: the documentation of performance works by artists such as Merce Cunningham; how performers and photographers, like mime Charles Deburau and French photographer Nadar, have collaborated; and the work of photographers who have a strong performative element to their practice, such as Charles Ray. It further explores the construction of self-identity in the work of artists such as Lee Friedlander, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol, as well as the playful, innovative approaches to portraiture adopted by Keith Arnatt and Masahisa Fukase. With some 300 images by more than 60 international artists, this is the definitive publication on photography and performance—two of the most popular and intriguing art forms of our time.

Simon Baker has been curator of photography and international art at Tate since 2009. Fiontán Moran is an assistant curator at Tate Modern.