ArtistsKaren Finley
Karen Finley

Karen Finley

Artist
WA-00034233
Performance Art
Representation
None documented
0
Institutional Exhibitions
2
Works in Collection
7
Assets Indexed
0
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
80%
Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

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Authority Records (2)

Source Registry (1)

About

Why this artist matters now

Karen Finley is an American performance artist and activist whose work emerged from the 1980s downtown New York scene. Her performances, often autobiographical and provocative, combine spoken word, physical gesture, and staged confrontation to address taboo subjects including sexuality, trauma, and social violence. Working across performance, video, and installation, Finley's practice refuses conventional theatrical boundaries and aesthetic distance. Her work has been central to debates around artistic freedom and censorship in the United States.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 1mo ago

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Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement
Performance Art
Medium
Related Artists
12 in graph
Institutional

Museum Collections

Canonical record

Artworks (2)

Artwork sources (1)

2 published of 3 catalogued · 2 with image
  • MoMA
    2 publishedof 3 catalogued2 img
Record

Images

Woman in Tears (Art Institute of Chicago)
Art Institute of Chicago
Woman in Tears (Art Institute of Chicago)
Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

2
Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection
Museum of Modern Art
New York, US
Record

Exhibitions and timeline

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