In the past forty years, new, hybrid art forms such as performance art and installation art have taken on a more and more central role. Although we find early examples of this kind of art in the first half of the twentieth century, we tend to associate these media with the art of the past forty years, and when it comes to installation art, with the globalisation of the art world after 1989. Installation art is seen as a democratic art form, which engages with the audience through dialogue and interaction. Temporariness, mobility, transience and performativity are of significant importance for both performance and installation art. Performance art and installation art are also prime examples of the current development within Postmodern art and the idea of an Art at Large. Mixing media and disciplines or fields, such as visual art, music, fashion, design and architecture – all represented in this book – has become normal. This development becomes clear in the eight essays by Marga van Mechelen selected for this volume, supplemented by short texts explaining the key concepts in the essays. The book has an extraordinary form: it was handwritten by designer Ilke Gers. As such she refers to aspects that also play an important role within performance and installation art, such as the limitations of the human body, language and the dimension of time.