In 1974, twenty three year old Serbian-born artist Marina Abramovic created the most shocking performance artwork to date. Rhythm 0 was a captivating social experiment, and one that has still not been surpassed 43 years later. She placed 72 objects on a table.
Most where random and none harmful ones such as food, a rose, a scarf, cotton etc but some if put to use could cause extreme pain and even death. She then proceeded to sit in a chair and told her audience that for the next 6 hours they could use which ever one of the objects they desired on her with no consequences whatsoever, as she took full responsibility for every one of their actions. In the beginning most people just gave her a kiss, some water to drink or cut her hair. But as time went by and the performer didn’t react they began to use more harmful objects. They started cutting her with scissors, and knives and some even committed minor sexual assaults. Someone even went as far as lifting the loaded gun from the table and holding it against her. But he was quickly stopped by the others and the performance ended. Abramovic was fully committed to the performance and in many interviews after she said : ‘I wanted to push my body to it’s limits’.
Theater can often be used as a tool for the performer to get to know their own selves better and reflect on who they really are when they are not portraying a character. In Marina’s performance the audience is challenged to introspect their own true intentions outside of society’s rules and laws, and how far they will go to hurt someone.