This issue of Performance Research started life as ‘Conventions of Proximity in Art, Theatre and Performance’, a two-day symposium held at Birkbeck, University of London in May 2016. Our desire to put out a call for papers and artist contributions on this theme initially stemmed simply from observing the prevalence across artistic practice of the terms ‘immersion’, ‘participation’, ‘network’, ‘connection’ and ‘interaction’. This editorial explores why proximity is an important lens through which to re-examine cultural practices that might otherwise be considered in terms of activity and passivity, spectatorship and participation.