Performance Art Becomes Epic Spectacle

Marina Abramovic and Doug Aitkin “are not the only visual artists making complex musical theatre out of solo performance art, and doing it on a spectacular scale closer to opera. … Over the past ten years, [Matthew Barney] has turned to one-off, live presentations that unfold over many hours in several locations, employ large casts and crews, and require the planning and precision of an army mobilising for war.”