Why Did a Controversial Artist Choose Public Orgasm as Performance—and Call It “Terrible”?
- Marina Abramovic endured multiple orgasms over seven hours during a 2005 performance, leaving her physically and mentally exhausted.
- Abramovic’s performance reimagined a 1972 piece by artist Vito Acconci.
- Despite acclaim, Abramovic’s challenging art often faces misunderstanding, with critics calling her work sensationalist or vile.
Abramovic’s 2005 performance was a reimagining of a controversial 1972 performance piece by Vito Acconci, in which he mas***bated beneath a gallery ramp while broadcasting his fantasies through speakers.
Much like Acconci’s at the time, Abramovic’s reinterpretation was subject to mixed reactions by the public.
Serbian performance artist revealed the impact that having multiple orgasms on a museum had on her body
Image credits: Marina Abramović Institute
“Who pays these people? Where do they get their money from? It had better not be taxpayers paying for this,” one viewer said. “Most ‘elite’ art is simply money laundering operations,” another replied.
For Abramovic, on the other hand, choosing to mas***bate for several hours beneath a platform at the Guggenheim museum was the culmination of more than five decades of performative art, with countless pieces testing the limits of both her body and the audience’s boundaries—but none was as demanding as this one.
“I was ready to die,” she said later, reflecting on the physical toll her multiple performances took on her entire being. “I ended with nine orgasms… I was so exhausted!”
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