• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Artist who was 'ready to die' after allowing people to do anything to her for hours explains why she does such extreme performances

Home> News> World News

Updated 07:56 12 May 2025 GMT+1Published 13:34 14 Oct 2024 GMT+1

Artist who was 'ready to die' after allowing people to do anything to her for hours explains why she does such extreme performances

Marina Abramovic allowed someone to slit her throat to drink her blood, but why would anyone agree to that?

Joe Yates

Joe Yates

Featured Image Credit: Getty/NICK GAMMON/Marina Abramović Archives

Topics: Art, History, Marina Abramović

Joe Yates
Joe Yates

Joe is a journalist for UNILAD, who particularly enjoys writing about crime. He has worked in journalism for five years, and has covered everything from murder trials to celeb news.

X

@JMYjourno

Advert

Advert

Advert

An artist has explained why she goes to drastic measures in the name of art.

Many would wonder why you would put a gun and knives on a table in front of you and tell strangers to have a field day on your body, but for artist Marina Abramovic, there's an important reason.

If you've not heard of the Serbian performance artist then welcome to the rabbit hole of craziness you are about to discover - because once you finish this article you'll want to learn more and more about the 77-year-old.

Back in 1974 Naples, Italy, a then 26-year-old Abramovic told spectators that she would take 'full responsibility' for whatever they decided to do to her - and she was even 'ready to die' for her artwork.

She named it Rhythm 0, and it involved her giving herself over to the audience from 8.00pm until 2.00am - she had her clothes ripped off, someone cut her throat to drink her blood and someone even pointed a loaded gun at her head and put her fingers on the trigger.

Advert

Marina Abramović performing Rhythm 0 in 1974 (Marina Abramović Institute)
Marina Abramović performing Rhythm 0 in 1974 (Marina Abramović Institute)

It sounds completely messed up to you and I, but it reached the entire world and has gone down in the history books as arguably the greatest performance art ever created.

But why does she go to such extreme lengths for art?

Speaking to Royal Academy, she said: "Yes, a big one. If there’s something I would like to do, I don’t do it. I only do something if I’m afraid of it, because that’s the whole point.

Advert

"If we always tend to do things that we like, then we are creating the same pattern, making the same mistakes again, and we never get out into unknown territory.

"I remember when I first had the first idea for The Artist is Present, I said to myself, 'Oh my god, I’m crazy. How can I do this for three months?', but then I became obsessed. And it was so hard."

Marina Abramovic pioneered performance art (Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Marina Abramovic pioneered performance art (Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

She continued: "It was supernatural to do this – to sit in front of thousands of different people, eight hours a day for three months. There were days when I thought I could not continue. But I did it. And this came out of the complete fear that I could not do it.

Advert

"At the same time, The Artist is Present was my big chance to show the public the power, the transformative power, of performance art, by literally doing nothing – by just being in a space and being noticed.

"And then came this incredible thing: people sleeping outside the museum, standing there for hours to see the work. It had 850,000 visitors, which broke records for any living artist. And this was absolutely by being still, being the eye of the tornado."

  • Artist who was 'ready to die' after allowing spectators to do anything to her for six hours explains why she did it
  • Artist who was 'ready to die' after allowing people to do anything to her for six hours took part in another extreme act
  • Artist who was 'ready to die' after allowing spectators to do anything to her for six hours shares the key thing she learned
  • Artist who was 'ready to die' after allowing people to do anything to her for six hours reveals its long-lasting effects

Choose your content:

29 mins ago
8 hours ago
11 hours ago
12 hours ago
  • 29 mins ago

    Heartbreaking before and after satellite images show true devastation of Texas floods that killed over 100 people

    The White House has spoken out after people started pointing fingers at Donald Trump following the Texas floods

    News
  • 8 hours ago

    Amazon Prime series with near-perfect RT score is labeled 'one of the best' by Stephen King

    The series starring Titus Welliver has been branded 'one of the most underrated TV shows'

    Film & TV
  • 11 hours ago

    People horrified after hearing tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s ‘sociopathic’ response about the future of humanity

    People have been creeped out by how he answered a simple question

    News
  • 12 hours ago

    Doctor issues warning over hidden symptoms of Lyme disease as tick bites near record highs in US states

    Parts of the US have seen a sudden uptick in tick bites

    News