The performance artist who controversially allowed spectators to do whatever they wanted to her body for six hours has revealed the moment the stunt went horribly wrong.
In 1974, Serbian conceptual artist Marina Abramović decided to take on the most risky performance of her career. Named ‘Rhythm 0,’ the artist stood completely still for six hours while visitors were allowed to use a series of objects on her in whatever way they wished.
Aiming to see how far the public would go when given complete control over another human’s body, Abramović left 72 different objects out for spectators to use.
These included a a rose, feather, perfume, honey, bread, grapes, wine, scissors, a scalpel, nails, a metal bar, a gun, and a bullet.
Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for the experiment to go south, but where did it all go wrong?
Initially, the stunt remained pretty tame, with visitors offering her a rose of simply watching as she stood still.
However, this would later take a very dark turn.
“At the beginning, nothing really happened,” Abramović, now 77, would later say of the stunt during an interview on the Marina Abramovic Institute YouTube channel.
“The public were really nice. They gave me a rose, they would kiss me, look at me, and the public became more and more wild.”
Emboldened by the fact that Abramović had placed her fate entirely in the hands of those around her, spectators became violent in their actions. The artist’s clothes were slashed away by razor blades and one person would even cut her throat in order to suck blood from her neck.
The artist would later reveal that she believed the turning point was when the audience realised they could get away with doing whatever they wished to her body.
However the public would soon become more violent (Marina Abramović Institute/YouTube)
Towards the end of the performance, the audience had split into two camps – those who wanted to protect Abramović and those who wanted to do her harm. A fight would break out in the room after a loaded gun was pointed to her head. It’s unclear whether or not this ended the experiment or the six hours had simply elapsed.
Either way, Abramović had revealed some harrowing truths about what humans are prepared to do to others when faced with no repercussions.
“What I learned was that … if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you,” she said.
“I felt really violated: they cut up my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away.”
Abramović went on to add that several spectators would even run away after the performance ended, unable to face the woman they had treated so horribly.
The 77-year-old artist would thankfully live to tell the tale (Joseph Okpako/WireImage)
“Everybody ran away. People could not actually confront with me as a person.”
The performance would go on cement Abramović as one of the most important conceptual artists around at the time, but also demonstrate the cruel nature of the human mind.
