Question one is really up to the individual. I don't think that we will ever completely lose performance art in which there is a live body performing. Yes, today we can incorporate other media with in the productions but live performance will always to a viable source of entertainment. Look at Frankenstein as an example. Of course this is more "theatre" than performance art. There was many different projections which really enhanced the live performance of the actors. In this case, we are not in danger of, as your post says, "losing the only truly present artistic expression." It's just like when televisions first came on the scene and people thought that would be the end of the movie experience. Televisions did not replace the movies and the theatre or live performances will never be able to be replaced.
On the other hand, some performance art can be caught on film which is a chance to witness a particular performance that would not otherwise be witnessed. The clip attached is from 1971, a time in which most of the students at LSU were not born and yet it was caught on film and audio. This performance, called The Shoot, is preserved on film so that other generations can see it again and again. True, it is not the same as actually witness it, but all the same, it has been preserved.
As far as the second questions goes, I found an article about performance art that say that technology itself can become performance art. This article talks about the history of performance art as far back as 1919 and though the 1980s. The end of the article say that,
"an 80's pop musician made the news for Performance Art pieces which
use a Microsoft® PowerPoint presentation as the crux of the performance. Where Performance Art goes from here is only a matter of combining
technology and imagination. In other words, there are no foreseeable
boundaries for Performance Art."
In this case, the live person was "performing" by using the computer. If a person just sat in front of a computer in a public place, would that be a piece of performance art? What if they sat in a public place and did nothing but play video games? Is that also a type of performance art? As far a having an impact on the theatre, what if they did it on the stage and nothing else? Who knows? The way people today communicate with each other via text or smart phones, if done in an artistic way could be it be the same as a performance art? It makes for an interesting idea to think about.
The Shoot
http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/performance.htm
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