Atlas of Performing Culture

Through examining more than 120 organizations on a global scale, this work shows how almost every human expression involves performing culture.

Atlas of Performing Culture is an illustrated voyage across five continents—Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas—involving the study of venues and events related to performance, the dynamic and unrepeatable mode of artistic activity capable of uniting the audience—who becomes the protagonist—with artists and works of art, architecture, and nature.

The volume is organized around five thematic sections related to the physical spaces, venues, and typologies of events. The unique experience of performing art can involve an island museum in Japan, the Rio Carnival, a Brussels theatrical debut, a rave party in the British countryside, and a cultural center housed in a former funeral home in the outskirts of Paris. Alongside theaters, concert halls, and festivals, we also find museums, sculpture parks, and hybrid cultural centers that elude any attempt of cataloging.

By breaking down the traditional frontiers between performance art, visual art, and performing arts, this volume takes the reader—whether specialist, practitioner, academic, or simply art aficionado—on a journey to some of the main cultural sites and performative experiences around the world. Each section offers a specific overview into leading cultural organizations, as well as a selection of similar international institutions.