Abstract: This article is devoted to one of the most common phenomena in contemporary art – the actual performance of the work of art. The article deals with the issues of its origin. In this respect, it covers different forms of art of the past, such as syncretic ritual, medieval street theater, commedia dell'arte, and some synthesized works of the Renaissance and the Baroque period, and their modifications in the XXth – early XXIst century. Some common features in the well-known performance pieces of the past and the present are compared. The works by Tan Dun, L. Lipkis, K. Stockhausen, I. Xenakis, J. Cage and others are given as an example. Performance is considered as a single phenomenon of modern culture that reveals the main constant of postmodernism - a synthesis of the arts. In this connection, a method of holistic analysis is used in addition to the analytical method of presentation. The conclusions demonstrate the main genre features of performance, which appeared in the past eras (works by da Vinci, L. Bernini, etc.), and represent performance as a genre in the twentieth century.