The artist who says she was "ready to die" during a controversial piece of performance art has revealed what inspired her to do it in the first place.
Marina Abramović is making headlines after her 1974 exhibition Rhythm 0 has once again become a talking point on social media.
Despite having a career spanning decades, with Abramović often pushing artistic boundaries with spectacular results, Rhythm 0 has continued to leave an ugly mark on the public.
Taking place in Naples 40 years ago, Abramović invited members of the public to join her in a room.
Also in the room was a table, on which, she placed 72 objects - ranging from feathers and flowers to more sinister items like knives and a gun, Far Out Magazine reports.
Per the Marina Abramović Institute, the artist gave the public one directive: "I am an object. You can do whatever you want with me and I will take full responsibility for the 6 hours."
While things started innocently enough, over the course of the six hours, Abramović found herself cut with the blades, had her clothes cut from her, and was the victim of multiple assaults.
Although some people tried to serve as protectors, Abramović has admitted that she was "ready to die" - telling The Guardian back in 2010 that the worst moments of the experience was when "a man pressed the gun hard against [her] temple" and when another man just stood there "breathing" at her.
When the six hours were up, Abramović began to move once again and the crowd scattered - seemingly fearful of taking any blame for their actions.
The artwork became a harrowing example of what individuals were capable of if they were free from blame, as well as how crowds can behave through mob mentality.
However, why would Abramović put herself at risk to begin with?
What possessed her to put herself in a room with strangers, a table full of potentially dangerous objects, and give them free rein to do as they pleased?
Well, although it may be unfathomable to some of us, the artist actually had a pretty good reason for doing so.
In an interview with The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Abramović revealed the piece was a response to the heavy criticism artists were getting at the time.
You see, by the 1970s, artists were continuing to try and push the boundaries and deliver something never-before-seen to the public. The more this continued, the more criticism performance artists were facing from the public, with some masochistic and sensationalist.
As a result, Abramović wanted to conduct a piece where she - the artist - would simply stand in a room and let the public do whatever they wanted. Of course, the crowd could have just let the six hours tick by and not subject her to numerous assaults -- but, as you've just found out, they didn't.
Abramović explained that some of the items she included on the table were "for pleasure", but these were not the objects the public selected.
"In the beginning, the public was really very much playing with me. Later on it became more and more aggressive," she told the MoMA. "It was six hours of real horror. They would cut my clothes. They will cut me with a knife, close to my neck, and drink my blood, and then put the plaster over the wound.
"They will, carry me around, half-naked, put me on the table, and stuck the knife between my legs into the wood."
Rhythm 0 continues to stand the test of time as the perfect example of the saying, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should".
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