Artist who had nine orgasms in public for performance shares ‘terrible’ effect it had
Artist Marina Abramović said that a public performance art piece where she had nine orgasms did have a 'terrible' effect on her.
She's the woman who once let people do 'whatever they wanted' to her for several hours which ended up putting her life in danger as her audience almost killed her, until the moment the performance was over and she walked away with everyone fleeing at her movement.
Among her other works is 'The Artist is Present', in which she spent two-and-a-half months sitting in a chair in New York City's Museum of Modern Art where anyone could join her for a silent conversation.
One of the first to do so was a fellow artist named Ulay who had been in a relationship with Abramović and worked with her on some of her art, including the potentially lethal 'Rest Energy' where he held a loaded bow and she made sure the arrow was pointed directly at her heart, had he let go of the bowstring she would have been fatally shot.
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They had split up after a piece called 'The Lovers' went wrong as they were supposed to walk from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China and get married in the middle, but he'd got his translator pregnant along the way so Abramović suggested they should get married instead.
For another one of her artworks she called 'Seven Easy Pieces', she took inspiration from Vito Acconci's ‘Seedbed’ where he hid under a ramp and masturbated while his fantasies were played over speakers.
During her version of it, she had nine orgasms, as she explained to New York Magazine, saying it had a 'terrible' effect on her subsequent performances.
Abramović said: "Having orgasms publicly, being excited by the visitors steps above me - it’s really not easy, I tell you!
"I’ve never concentrated so hard in my life. The problem for me, with this piece, was the absence of public gaze: only the sound.
"But I heard that people had a great time; it was like a big party up there! I ended with nine orgasms. It was terrible for the next piece - I was so exhausted!"
So it was 'terrible' in what sounds like a good way, because if you're going to end up being exhausted by something, it might as well be nine orgasms as part of a performance art where people had a great time.
Abramović later described having an orgasm as ‘such an important moment’ which can make you ‘feel life, connected to nature, birds, the rocks, the trees, everything becomes luminous and beautiful’.
‘Seedbed’ was only her second of the seven performances so she was quite tired ahead of performing the next five.
Nevertheless, she soldiered on and completed her performances to critical acclaim.
Topics: Marina Abramovic, Art, Sex and Relationships
Joe Harker