This article considers the far-reaching potential and the particular characteristics of performance art within the secondary art curriculum. It discusses the means by which an art department has incorporated it into their teaching curriculum at a state secondary school with reference to installations and the work of different performance artists in residence; details of their performances, methods and artistic intentions are discussed. After consideration of the varied responses from staff and students within Trinity Catholic School, the values and significance of direct experience are discussed. In its transience and its reflecting of the performative acts common to ordinary life, performance art offers a challenge to young people's thinking and creativity.