Performance Lab was a platform for experimenting with live art — paths for exploring, using, and examining the human body. It was the brainchild of Mariëlle Videler, who set out to bring artists and audience together, with the world as a stage.

It began as monthly encounters in Amsterdam between artists from various disciplines, exploring performance and performative situations in different locations, with an emphasis on social interaction, group dynamics, and experimentation. These gatherings evolved naturally into performances before the eyes of the public — as with The Miraculous Yellow Objects (2009, MIP2, Belo Horizonte, Brazil) and the series PLAY I–IV (2008, public space, Enschede). Videler also broadened the platform's reach with workshops for both professionals and the general public, and with accessible presentations on performance art.

Each project brought together a different group of artists to work in the presence of the public — sometimes with audience participation — within a given context and timeframe, developed in collaboration with art institutions, artists' initiatives, festivals, and other organizations.