Featured Image Credit: Getty Images Contributor Dave Bennett / Marina Abramovic
Topics: Art, Weird, Marina Abramović
Callum Jones
Topics: Art, Weird, Marina Abramović
An artist who allowed spectators to do anything to her for six hours has revealed the horrific moment it all went wrong.
To be honest, letting random people have free rein on your body for so long sounds like a nightmare and a recipe for disaster.
However, Marina Abramovic allowed it to happen to herself as part of a controversial performance art piece.
Those who wanted to be involved had one simple task: there were 72 objects laid out in front of Abramovic and they could 'use' the items on her as they desired, while she wouldn't move her body for six hours in what she called 'Rhythm 0'.
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And no matter what those spectators decided to do, Abramovic said she would take 'full responsibility'.
Of the 72 objects were things like flowers, perfume and apples, as well as more sinister items like razors and knives.
Things were pretty tame at first, but as you'd probably expect, things took a dark turn for Abramovic around half-way through the experiment.
The artist got into quite the predicament as a knife was stuck between her legs, while parts of her clothing were ripped off her.
Harrowing photos taken at the time show Abramovic crying.
In an interview with the Guardian in 2014, Abramovic said she was 'ready to die'.
"I had a pistol with bullets in it, my dear. I was ready to die," she told the newspaper.
The artist went on to say she 'lucky' that she lived to tell the tale.
One individual is said to have cut Abramovic's neck to drink her blood, while others wiped away the artist's tears and tried to intervene.
Reports suggest that the performance was cut short as the artist ended up with a loaded gun to her head, sparking people to step in and call an end to the mayhem.
However, it remains unclear to this day whether it was their intervention that ended 'Rhythm 0' or whether the six hours finally elapsed.
While it may have been traumatic, Abramovic is not afraid to reflect on her experience.
"At the beginning, nothing really happened," she reflected in an interview posted 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."
Speaking about things she endured and when the performance finally came to an end, she went on: "I start moving. I start being myself [...] and, at that moment, everybody ran away. People could not actually confront with me as a person.
"The experience I drew from this piece was that in your own performances you can go very far, but if you leave decisions to the public, you can be killed."