The World’s Most Disturbing Piece of Art
Is one you’ve probably never heard about
The series culminated with Rhythm 0, or what can surely be described as one of the world’s most profound and yet horrifying pieces of art. All of the performances in the Rhythm series were meant to test the limits of the human body, beginning with knife-play in the first performance and gradually mounting to the destruction and seduction of the final piece. The artist Marina Abramovic sought to give an authentic exploration of the body — consciousness and unconsciousness, its corporeal pain, its pleasure, its ability to reveal facets of humanity and womanhood.
Rhythm 10 began with 20 knives. Marina set her hand atop a piece of paper and used each of the knives to quickly stab the paper between her fingers. She would only exchange the knife once it had cut her skin, leaving its impression in the form of beads and blooms of blood against the empty sheet. A recording was taken of the first half of the performance and she played this during the second half, following the rhythm of the knives striking the paper, cutting herself at the same time as she had in the recording. This went on until all 20 knives had been used. It was during this particular performance that she became keenly aware of the audience’s energy and continued to draw on it for much of her later work.
