[WARNING: Some images are disturbing and NSFW] Most people think of tattooing and piercing when they think of body art, but performance art involving the human body is also considered to be a subset. This list looks at ten extremely bizarre works of modern art in which the human body is exploited. Some of the images are gruesome – you have been warned!
Nauman was educated at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of California, Davis, and became part of the burgeoning California art scene in the late 1960s. His Self Portrait as a Fountain showed him spouting a stream of water from his mouth. Nauman tested the idea of art as a stable vehicle of communication and the role of the artist as revelatory communicator
It was Serra’s first film and features a single shot of a hand in an attempt to repeatedly catch chunks of material dropped from the top of the frame. In Boomerang (1974), Serra taped Nancy Holt as she talks and hears her words played back to her after they have been delayed electronically. Serra has made a number of films concerning the manufacture and use of his favorite material, steel.
Performed both at the University Museum at Columbus, Ohio, in 1969 and in La Jolla in 1970. He ran back and forth, crashing into opposite walls fifty feet apart until he collapsed from exhaustion. The sounds of his movements were taped so that viewers were able to hear the sounds of his crashing after the event, as well as see the blood-spattered walls he had left. As on reviewer described the effect of this residue, “LeVa had truly become a ghostly presence, a body haunting space.” No images or videos are available for this item, so the clip above shows some of LeVa’s other art.
On September 17, 1970, he performed this piece at the Richmond Art Center in California. The equipment he used included a white paper that covered the floor and an eleven-foot-square mound of earth in the center of the room. He stuck plastic tubes in it, each being fifty feet long and filled with them with blood, urine, water, and milk. Fox then proceeded to lie on the earth and for six hours, attempted to levitate into the space above him. He described it with this, “I was trying to think about leaving the ground, until I realized I should be thinking about entering the air. For me that changed everything, made it work.” After he tried this he said that it left him with, “The feeling for awhile that I was out of my body.” Again no image could be found so the work above is another example of Terry Fox’s work.
This was first performed by Vito Acconci on January 15-29 1972 at Sonnabend Gallery in New York. In this piece, Acconci lay hidden underneath a ramp installed at the Sonnabend Gallery, masturbating. The artist’s spoken fantasies about the visitors walking above him were heard through loudspeakers in the gallery.
A piece that was recorded by a photographer where he appeared to cut off his own penis. Chris Burden, a fellow body artists misreported in a 1970s Newsweek Magazine that died by slicing off his penis during this performance. However, the photos had been misinterpreted. The photographs were actually of Hans Cibulka, a model and friend of Schwarzkogler. He posed with a sliced open fish covering his groin. This is what is believed to of caused the myth. Schwarkogler actually died on June 20th, 1969. He was found without any evidence for more than an accident under a window from which he fell. This generated several myths about him committing suicide and other speculations about his life.
This is one of Burden’s most well known acts. On November 19, 1971 in Santa Ana, California, he walked into F Space gallery for a pre-arranged exhibition. The crowd in the empty gallery watched as Burden’s friend stepped about 15 feet away from Burden, pulled out a loaded .22 rifle and shot him in his left arm. Although the bullet was only intended to graze Burden, he flinched at the last moment and thereby endured a more serious injury then intended.
In this 1993 performance Athey hung nude strung up to a column with long needles inserted into his head in such a manner as to represent a crown of thorns. His stated artistic intention is to achieve redemption through self-mutilation. The image above is the best one that could be found.
Burden was so influential in the realm of body art that I just had to include another of his pieces in this list. Trans-Fixed took place in 1974 at Speedway Avenue in Venice, California. For this performance, Burden lay face up on a Volkswagen Beetle and had nails hammered into both of his hands, as if he were being crucified on the car. The car was pushed out of the garage and the engine revved for two minutes before being pushed back into the garage.
Performed in 1974. In the piece, the audience was given instructions to use an array of 72 provided instruments of pain and pleasure, including knives, feathers, and a loaded pistol on Abramovic’s body. Audience members cut her, pressed thorns into her belly, put lipstick on her, and removed her clothes. The performance ended after six hours when someone held the loaded gun up to Abramovic’s head and a scuffle broke out.
eeeps creeps
alrighty then
I can’t honestly say I’m a fan of this type of art, but it is strange none the less. Though I gotta say…
I just don’t understand this list
hmmm. that was weird.
hi guys this will be my first post ever on this site. I love it, keep teh lists commin
I dunno..where is the art in this list? I thought that it’ll involve bodies painted or tattooed in a really grotesque manner, but this is something that I don’t really expect when the title is suggesting something else.
shoot is awesome, i wish i can shoot somebody for art
@BravehisTickle (6): Read the introduction – performance art is a subset of body art – because it involves the human body.
wow…
Oh sorry, I quickly jumped to conclusions without reading the intro
So, this ain’t one of the competition list, is it? That’ll start from the 23rd if I am not wrong.
I don’t really understand calling this stuff art, to me it’s an excuse for people to act stupid. Utter bull*****.
Weird……
Of course this is art. It sounds cliche but art is really up to the viewer. I am amazed by that last one. I had heard of all the others except #1. Sounds like the artist got what she wanted though, I’m sure she wanted someone to threaten to shoot her with the pistol.
Great List!
I wish I was there, I would have shot her for being an idiot.
Some tribal groups who can give these people a run for their money:
*The Botocudos who wear wooden plugs in the ears and lips.
*The Tapuyas who frequently enlarge their lower lips by placing labrets, or tribal ornaments, in them.I saw one in the National Geographic and it was really gross how he(or she whatever it was) did it.
*The Flatheads ,who compress the heads of their babies into a peak by means of a cone-shaped wicker headpiece.
And these are just the moderate ones I know about, there are a lot of crazier ones out there.
And they do it quite oft, not once in a blue moon.
I can just imagine what they would do if they would turn their heads to performing arts.
They’re freaks. Every single one of them.
What about Orlan? (google her… she’s weird)
I would just like to say a little something about Chris Burden, as a man who made a career out of shocking performance art. At the school where he was teaching a number of years ago a student performed a piece in which he pulled out a gun (empty) and pretended to play Russian roulette in a full classroom, no one in the class knew of this beforehand including the instructor who may have been Burden himself. The student then left the room after the performance and fired off a blank, with no one around to see him clearly not shoot himself. Mr. Burden expelled this student (I believe, it’s been some time since I remembered the story) or at least heavily petitioned the expulsion of the student. I lost a lot of faith in this mans art at that time. He was a favorite of my College professors when this happened and he told me he could never look at his work again without thinking about his hypocrisy.
For related art controversy see Damien Hirst suing a 19 year old artist for millions and millions of dollars over vague copyright issues and the stealing of some pencils some time last year.
I think this is strange kind of art that, for sure, always starts debates about it. Thus, it deserves to be called “art” more than a lot of other vanilla forms of (useless) art today.
Fraggles! The lot of them!
I don’t know how to react to an art gallery in which there was a man beating off to my very footsteps. This is why if every artist was to suddenly vanish, society might accomplish quite a bit more.
This kind of “art” leaves me stone cold. Interesting nonetheless.
#1 looks kinda fun, think I might do that.
Te list started to confuse me. I’m speechless.
This isn’t art. It’s stupid people doing stupid things and convincing other stupid people to share in their stupidity.
This list is good insofar as it catalogs stupidity.
This is not art, this is ridiculous. The best part is, American tax dollars actually support this crap. Someone masturbating under a stage is not art I don’t care how you swing it.
WTF ??
Art? More like manias. Weird ass list, this.
i guess that’s the thing about “art”. it is what it is to most people. i think this list may attract alot of different comments/opinions. And, to that, I say, each his own. Personally, I think it’s interesting. Another great list. Thanks.
how much do these people earn for doing these things to themselves =/
and why would people pay them for doing these things to themselves \=
@get a clue (25):
‘This isn’t art. It’s stupid people doing stupid things and convincing other stupid people to share in their stupidity’
You, my friend, have hit the nail on the head.
@Skrillah (31): Hey we beat you haha what a thriller it was!
Hey was that offensive? I dunno
By that i mean Skrillah’s post.
very bizarre indeed!
I like art and seeing an artist having the freedom to express themselves through it. However, this isn’t art…not in my mind. It’s like watching someone acting out their own madness they kept hidden in their head.
Cool list, even though these “artists” are nuts.
I want more American lists gosh darn it. We are just so awesome.
Each one to his or her likes I suppose, but list gets the thumbs down from me.
@oouchan(35) Well written comment.
Oh I’m sorry, I meant to say FREAKIN’ Dumb List!!!!!!
@ 31 Boy from troy;
Yeah man, What a game!! Jayasuriya and mahela took it easy. well Great match anyways. Can’t wait for the next game
When I lay around masturbating in an art gallery detailing my erotic fantasies regarding the other patrons, I was asked in no uncertain terms to leave and not come back. One rule for them, another for us.
Weird.
The woman who allowed herself to be painted/tickled/tortured/shot; could I suppose be considered a successful social experiment. Where do we draw the line when anything goes? Kind of relieved that someone protested when the gun came out.
But whacking off under the boardwalk? How is that in any way considered art? Who really wants to know what a perv is thinking whilst going about his business? I do not understand.
I’m off to work now. When I get back I expect that I’ll see over 200 comments. Anytime now someone will defend these “artists” and will be condecending to people who don’t like this stuff. I’ve noticed that people who defend “art” tend to be that way. I’m looking forward to reading those.
I once read about someone who filled a hotel room with cheese (sprayed some on the walls, hung from the ceiling…) in the name of “art”. If I owned a room and someone approached me about using it for that reason I’d think he’s bonkers. Why would they let me destroy a room like that?
I’m game for most anything, but I can’t decide if this is actually art or just baffoonery. #10 was pretty cool, though. We used to do this as kids – pretend we were various water fountains.
I think I like #10 because it’s silly and I can relate to it. #2 was interesting. But the rest are borderline offensive either to cultural norms or plain common sense. But, I suppose that’s the gist of art, whether subjectively good, bad, genius, or idiotic. It’s someone’s opinion on something that’s neither right or wrong.
I was intially going to give this list thumbs down, but on second thought, I give it a couple of thumbs up! Nice job, markus.
i believe art is supposed to serve the purpose of portraying the world or life in a different way than the viewer has experienced or to make you realize aspects of yourself that you’ve been blind to. #1 certainly does that. It provides a look into man’s natural darker nature.
I completely agree with T (12). Nonsense passed off as art.
While most of these items were boring for me(nevermind the gross spelling and grammar errors), item the first has really caught my attention. Nevermind the exposed breast, beautiful though it is, the idea that she would ask someone to use a loaded gun on her… I really wonder if she had intended it to be used in the way the viewer attempted, or if she had had something more subtle and artistic in mind.
Great list! Makes me wish I’d gone to art school, seems it gives you licence to do anything. I’m surpirised flashers don’t call it performance art when they get caught, it would probably be believed considering some of the stuff these people get up to
Wooowwwww…are these examples really considered art? A few nights ago, I watched the last few minutes of an “art show” while waiting for the Nutcracker to start, and I was amazed at what a douche-baggy blathering idiot the host seemed to be. Going on and on about the artist’s intent and blah, blah, blah. I’m sorry, but a painting of a red square with one yellow line though the center is NOT fine art; and neither is a man that has himself nailed to a car. Picasso, Dali, Mozart, Rembrandt, Kalo, DaVinci, Mendelssohn…they are the true artists.
In my humble opinion, these people are merely eccentrics that dropped one too many sugar cubes.
Cheers!!!
I finally get #7.
Now that’s thinkin’ with yer dipstick, Jimmy!
Great list! I love the debate on what is art. I like to think that I have a fairly open mind, but I can’t wrap my head around the point of these. Especially the man whacking off at the art gallery. To me, that’s *****ual perverseness. So, I tend to agree with oouchan(35).
If all of the above is art, then me taking a poo and putting it on display could be art…I could simply claim there is a deep and meaningful purpose to it that no one else could possibly get because they are not artistic enough. Is there anything on this list that occurred after the late 1970s?
Kind of surprised suspension isn’t on here. That’s pretty intense.
Fascinating stuff. I would have liked to have seen a couple of the performances. I can understand the objectors’ perspectives on here as body/performance art is not for everyone.
Also a lot of it is quite pretentious on the part of the artist as well as viewers who would rave about the art (“the emperor’s wearing no clothes”) when it is merely formulated to shock, offend or be controversial for the sake of controversy.
To that end, the artist is no longer an artist, as they are not relating their art to the people, but rather having their art dictated and manipulated by the audience.
In cases like these, they are no different than a Disney boy-band.
So basically, anything is considered art. I always thought it took talent to creat art. Apperently I was mistaken. Art is not very unique at all.
@Cassia (49): Somebody already did the poop thing. http://itn.co.uk/fa063d163a335dfcabb6966bccbefc00.html
I don’t care how nice the background – it’s still all ***** to me.
@ Shawn-n-Laura2010 (47)nicely said!
My question is where is the talent? Not anyone can paint a realistic self portrait or take awe inspiring photos, but anyone can masturbate under people and record it. If I wanted to dress up my friend and throw my feces all over his face and take pictures and call it art then I guess monkey could be famouse artists.
Good lists though, makes you wonder who supports these non-talented artists.
Except for the bloody crown, this seems to be a movement of the early 70′s. Did this ‘art’ go the way of platform shoes and bellbottoms or are people still ‘creating’ this nonsense?
I would like some current examples of this stuff to see how far it has progressed.
This is CRAP, not art.
WHAT THE HELL WITH THE FIRST ONE!?
Who says it’s not art?
It’s the so-called “The Art of Redefining Art in Your Wildest Imagination” or preferable “in Your Wettest Dream” or whatever fall in between. Besides, they are just artists, so leave ‘em alone. In asylum, preferably… accompanying me, so i can perform my arts upon them. And we’ll see if they still knew a thing about arts afterward =D