This thesis explores the notions of risk that are produced through four international festivals of contemporary experimental performance. The case studies are: In between Time Festival of Live Art in Bristol; the National Review of Live Art in Glasgow; Homeworks Forum in Beirut, and Oadao Festival of Live Art in Beijing. The focus is predominantly on the curation of these events, and the mediating role that the curator plays in the way works are communicated as cutting-edge and "risky". My research and conclusions are based on extensive fieldwork at each. Contextualization of the evidence is primarily offered through an analysis of the vorks programmed, interviews with participants (curators, artists and spectators), the fields of practice in which they sit due to their specific locales, and the international networks they engage with. The contextualization takes into account the wider socio-political situations of the places where they take.place, the influence hat these have had in terms of directing thematic focuses and experimentation with form. and the growth of the infrastructures which have evolved to support ways of vorkinq. I take more of an experiential approach than a theoretical one, but the potential for extrapolating theory from the evidence is suggested throughout, in particular in the Introduction and concluding chapter. In the section 'Risk as Form', covering the two British case studies, I focus on the way Live Art as a term has evolved through practice, which works across disciplines, and the drive to stabilize it. In the Beirut case study, 'Risk as Content', I consider the influence of Lebanon's civil war (1975-1990) on the work produced. In the concluding chapter, I position Oadao Festival of Live Art as an example that draws together some of the issues arising through the other three studies, and as a departure point for future research. ii