Since the beginning of the Dadaism in the Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich in 1916, many artists have experimented with extreme performance art as a critique of contemporary consumer culture. Some have used bodily fluids such as blood, faeces and urine. Other times they perform self mutilation. In the 1960s and 1970s extreme performance was elevated to a movement with the Viennese actionists. In recent times there has been a resurgence in extreme performance as a response to the increasing alienation some artists feel in the face of today's technological advances.
Some contemporary artists using extreme performance:
* Ron Athey
* Franko B
* Bob Flanagan
* Yang Zhichao