The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the vulnerability and courage required to face public judgment and aggression.
Marina Abramovic's quote conveys the intense emotional and physical risks involved in exposing oneself to public scrutiny and decision-making. It highlights how in a confrontational environment, the potential for violence exists when individuals are left to act upon their impulses, yet it also underscores the artist's resilience as she chose to confront the public despite the hostility faced during her performance.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the importance of artistic expression despite societal pressures.
All the aggressive actions I do to myself I would never dream of doing in my own life - I am not this kind of person. I cry if I cut myself peeling potatoes. I am taking the plane, there is turbulence, I am shaking. In performance, I become, somehow, like not a mortal.
I hate studio. For me, studio is a trap to overproduce and repeat yourself. It is a habit that leads to art pollution.
The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind.
First of all, to do performance art, you really have to give 100 percent. I only know that I have to give 100 percent and then what happens, happens.
Theatre is fake... The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real.
I want people to come to me open and vulnerable. When they come to the gallery, they have to leave their watches, their computers, their Blackberrys, iPads, iPhones, because we are so incredibly used to technology, and I wanted to remove that.
Concerning non-violence: it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.
You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.
I learned with 'Birdman' that it's liberating when you just lose yourself and go after something that terrifies you.
You do wonder - when you are at 28,000 feet, the height that aeroplanes cruise at, when you are struggling to draw breath and every limb aches - why do I do this?
We put fear and prejudice on trial, and fear and prejudice lost.
In Bosnia, little children shot in the head by a guy who thinks it's okay to aim his gun at a child.
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