Artist who had nine orgasms in public for performance explains why she does such sexual experiments
The performance artist behind some of the most controversial and explicit exhibitions of of the 20th century has explained why her work is filled with sexual undertones.
Serbian born Marina Abramović is best known for masterminding performances which involves audience members becoming participants in her work.
The 78-year-old's most famous - and controversial - piece of work was 1974's Rhythm 0, which saw her stand before a table of various objects for six hours and allow visitors to do whatever they wished to her.
The performance unsurprisingly exposed the darkest depths of human nature, with one person putting a loaded gun to Abramović's head and attempting to get put her finger on the trigger while some of the audience ended up fighting with each other.
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However, this isn't the only provocative performance piece which Abramović has completed.
Who is Marina Abramović?
Born in 1946 in Belgrade, Serbia, Abramović studied at the country's Academy of Fine Arts and later took up a teaching post at the university.
She began working as a performance artist during the 1970s with Edinburgh's Rhythm 10 and has since completed around 50 performance pieces in the decades since.
Outside of performance art, she has collaborated with celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Jay Z and James Franco over the years.
What are Marina Abramović's most extreme performances?
Rhythm 0 isn' the only time in which Abramović has pushed the boundaries of performance art to its most extreme.
In her first solo performance Role Exchange, Abramović swapped roles with a prostitute in Amsterdam while the escort attended the opening of an exhibit at Amsterdam's De Appel Museum.
Both women were recorded and the footage displayed at the museum, with Abramović later branding the piece a 'disaster'.
In 2005's Seedbed, she recreated Vito Acconci's 1972 performance of the same name, which saw her masturbate to the point of orgasm nine times while fantasies were blasted through a speaker.
“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,” Abramović said of the piece.
Meanwhile in 1974, Abramović passed out during a performance of Rhythm 5, which culminated in her passing out due to lack of oxygen after leaping into the centre of a burning star.
The audience didn't initially realise she'd passed out until a doctor was forced to intervene and remove the 78-year-old from the star once the flames began to get close to her body.
Abramović is still performing after more than 50 years in the game, with her upcoming exhibition Balkan Erotic Epic taking place in the UK later this year.
Why does she do it?
Naturally, the question on most peoples' minds after reading about Abramović's most controversial performances will be something along the lines of 'why?' or 'what is the point?'.
So why does Marina Abramović create such extreme pieces of performance art? Apparently, it's all about forcing people to 'confront their fears'.
Explaining her artistic process in a 2024 interview with The Times, Abramović said that she wanted her art to 'encourage people to confront their fears' and provoke a strong reaction.
The artist recalled an exchange with a journalist in which she challenged him to take his clothes off after learning it was his biggest fear.
"I stage these situations to free myself from fear of pain but I need the energy of the public to do it. When you perform you are not poor, fragile little Marina, it’s your super-self, which can do anything," she added.
Abramović also touched on the motivation for her work during a Reddit AMA thread back in 2013, explaining that 'nice' or 'friendly' ideas are 'too easy'.
"I only pick up the ideas who I am afraid of or who are disturbing or who I have never been in that territory before," she said.
"It's very important to create high standards for yourself, no matter what. My ideas come from life not from studio."
Topics: Marina Abramovic, Art
Brenna Cooper