One of the most famous performance artists in the world has opened up about the time someone drank her blood during a daring act.
Marina Abramović, now 78, became known in the community after she let spectators 'do anything they wanted' to her body for six hours straight.
'Rhythm 0' was arguably the most shocking display of art in 1974 and remains so to this day. The Serbian performer gave members of the public free rein over her body, as participants had access to 72 items, including flowers, perfume and apples, as well as seriously dangerous ones, like razors and knives.
Six hours on, Marina was stripped of her clothes, and her skin was all cut up. Since then, she has gone on to perform equally daring stunts all across the world, most recently in Manchester.
Advert
Speaking to Louis Theroux on his podcast, The Louis Theroux Podcast, she claimed she has earned 'pretty [much] nothing' from her career 'because I never make art to create something like an art commodity'.
Her career has been quite literally a blood, sweat, and tears effort, with a special emphasis on blood.
Marina was just 23 when she did 'Rhythm 0', and she was 'very angry' throughout the performance.
When asked by Theroux what she thought about the public's reaction to her performance piece, she said that she didn't 'care about this' at the time.
"I only know that the last six hours and the gallery say the six hours is over. I start walking towards public. I was naked, I was full of blood, I was in a terrible state," she continued.
"Somebody cut my neck, drink the blood and all the rest. And then I was walking to them and they all run away and I got back to the hotel and I look in the mirror and I have a big piece of gray hair."
Marina went on to say that she 'gave her life' for her idea, so that 'you can do anything you want'.
She said: "I take full responsibility. I stand there in the gallery. There is a pistol in this bully. There are things for pleasure, for not pleasure. There are chains, there are axes, hell. And I didn’t do anything. And I said, Six hours, I’m going to stand there. And the public went crazy."
Marina was well aware that 'the public can kill me', but that it took her '30 years' to understand that they can also kill her peacefully.
"When I learned the lesson, the public can kill you to do peace where I restrict the public to nothing," she added. "Public can't touch me. They can't talk to me, they can't move.
"They can sit on at the table and the chair and just involved in the gaze. I give them the gaze. And that really changed everything."
Topics: Louis Theroux, Marina Abramovic, Celebrity, Art
Anish Vij