The Live Art Archive holds information about existing Live Art / Performance Art materials, records and publications primarily in England and the UK. The audit commenced in 1994, with the support of the Arts Council of England and has subsequently been developed as a research resource at The Nottingham Trent University.

One of the great questions of our time seems to be "What is Live Art?"! It is not easily contained within a pat definition because the work is invariably exploratory and seeks to investigate existing conventions, evolve new concepts, engage with an experimental practice and draws freely on the widest range of references, influences and disciplines. That said, Live Art events do frequently contain a range of distinguishing characteristics which together assist towards a working definition: work that broadly embraces ephemeral, time-based visual and performing arts events that include a human presence and broaden, challenge or question traditional views of the arts.