Rhythm 0: A Slide Show — Popular

Abramović later explained that her body had stopped feeling like her own. She became an object. And the audience — ordinary people, not monsters — did things they would never have imagined.

A photographer begins taking close-ups of her eyes, her mouth, her bare chest. No one stops him. No one stops anyone . rhythm 0: a slide show

Every single person runs for the exit. No one can look her in the eye. No one can face what they have done — or what they allowed to happen. Abramović later explained that her body had stopped

Someone sticks thorns from the rose stem into her stomach. Another person uses the scalpel to cut the skin of her neck and arms. They drink the blood. A photographer begins taking close-ups of her eyes,

A fight breaks out in the audience. One faction tries to stop the man with the gun. Another faction says: “She signed the paper. It’s art.”

It feels like a game. People smile. They are being kind . ![Scissors near a woman's sleeve]

In 1974, the Serbian artist Marina Abramović asked that question not with words, but with her own body. The result was a six-hour performance piece called Rhythm 0 — and it remains one of the most disturbing, essential works of art ever created.