Since its inception 2005, Performa curators have included Defne Ayas, Tairone Bastien, Mark Beasley, Adrienne Edwards, Laura McLean-Ferris, Kathy Noble, Charles Aubin, Job Piston, and Lana Wilson.
[4] Other featured artists in Performa 05 included Shirin Neshat, Clifford Owens, Tamy Ben-Tor, Laurie Simmons, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, Coco Fusco, and Christian Marclay.
Performa Commissions expanded its roster with 10 artists creating new work for the biennial including Japanther, Nathalie Djurberg, Carlos Amorales, Sanford Biggers, Isaac Julien and Russell Maliphant, Daria Martin, Kelly Nipper, Adam Pendelton, Yvonne Rainer, and Francesco Vezzoli.
Each artist produced a work provoking the future including an opening night moving feast, a cell-phone parade, a talk show, a mysterious journey through the Lower East Side, and a musical spectacle based on high-school yearbook photos.
150 artists were part of the biennial including Elmgreen & Dragset, Mika Rottenberg, Frances Stark, Gerard Byrne, Tarek Atoui, Simon Fujiwara, Ming Wong, Shirin Neshat, Lauren Nakadate and James Franco, Liz Magic Laser, Iona Rozael Brown, Guy Maddin, and Ragnar Kjartansson each of whom presented a new commissioned work.
Performa curators visited Dakar, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Tangier, Johannesburg and Cape Town as part of the research process examining these urban centers.
Yto Barrada, William Kentridge, Tarik Kiswanson, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Julie Mehretu and Jason Moran, Zanele Muholi, Wangechi Mutu, Kelly Nipper, Jimmy Robert, and Tracey Rose were among those who participated in the biennial which took place November 1 to 19, 2017.
New works created by artists, including Korakrit Arunanondchai,Ed Atkins,Nairy Baghramian, Tarik Kiswanson, Paul Pfeiffer and Samson Young approached performance from unique perspectives.
In previous editions, the Performa Biennial had consistently engaged with the city as a stage, making art directly accessible to the public and challenging the understanding of performance.
Commissions by Kevin Beasley, Ericka Beckman, Sara Cwynar, Danielle Dean, Madeline Hollander, Andrés Jaque (Office for Political Innovation), Tschabalala Self, and Shikeith continued this legacy.
Julien Creuzet, Marcel Dzama, Nikita Gale, Nora Turato, Franz Erhard Walther, and Haegue Yang were the commissioned artists displaying new work produced over the course of two years.