Digital Performance Art In The Post-Pandemic Cultural Landscape

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated an unprecedented migration of performance art from physical to digital spaces, compelling artists, institutions, and audiences to reconceptualize the ontological foundations of live performance. This paper examines the transformation of performance art in the post-pandemic era, analyzing how digital mediation has altered the phenomenology of liveness, the politics of embodiment, and the economics of artistic production. Through analysis of landmark digital performances by Marina Abramovic, the National Theatre's NT Live initiative, and emerging artists working in virtual reality and livestream formats, the article argues that the pandemic did not merely accelerate pre-existing trends toward digitization but catalyzed a fundamental renegotiation of what constitutes presence, participation, and performance in the twenty-first century. Drawing upon performance studies, media theory, and phenomenological philosophy, this paper maps the contours of a new performance paradigm that challenges the binary opposition between "live" and "mediated" art.