15 Extreme Pieces Of Performance Art

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15 Extreme Pieces Of Performance Art

If you’ve never thought of prancing around in public wearing a suit made entirely out of chicken skins, then you’re probably not a performance artist. Or maybe you just have, like, normal nightmares. We’re not going to pretend to know what goes on in the minds of the following people, is what we’re saying. Also, fair warning: Know that some of these entries may be disturbing to some. We tried to add some palate cleansers. We tried.

"Flesh" by Victor Ivanov and Lewis G. Burton

PERFORMANCE ART FLESH British artists Victor Ivanov and Lewis G. Burton took a huge amount of chicken skins and sewed them together to create a bodysuit. Burton then wore it in public. They also made a mock exercise video wearing the suit, as well as a line of merchandise that included curtains and wallpaper. CRACKED.COM

Artnet

"The Lovers" by Marina Abramovic and Ulay

PERFORMANCE ART THE LOVERS In 1983, Serbian and German performance artists Marina Abramovic and Ulay decided to walk the Great Wall of China from opposite ends to join in the middle and get married. It took years to get everything set up with permission from the Beijing authorities, and the walk finally began on March 30, 1988. But it wasn't about getting married anymore. Instead, it was about a break-up. After walking for 90 days, they met each other on a stone bridge, embraced, and went their separate ways. CRACKED.COM

The Guardian

"Eschatology:" by Arthur Berzinsh

PERFORMANCE ART ESCHATOLOGY. THE LIVE-STREAM CANNIBALISM In 2018, Latvian artist Arthur Berzinsh live-streamed a cannibal performance piece Where two performers had a piece of their flesh cut off, fried, and fed to them. The artist said that it was a metaphor about a consumers society consuming itself. CRACKED.COM

Artnet

The "Rooster-Penis" Performance by Steven Cohen

PERFORMANCE ART THE ROOSTER-PENIS PERFORMANCE South African artist Steven Cohen was arrested in France in 2014 for walking with a rooster tethered to his penis with a ribbon near the Eiffel Tower. Cohen said the piece was about an increasingly homophobic, xenophobic and anti-Semitic world. He used a rooster because it's the emblem of France. CRACKED.COM

Reuters

"Seedbed" by Vito Acconci

PERFORMANCE ART VITO ACCONCI'S SEEDBED In 1972, Acconci built a ramp in a studio, climbed under the floorboards, and masturbated for eight hours a day while people walked across the ramp and listened to him monologuing his sexual fantasies about them over a microphone. CRACKED.COM

Tate video

"The Reincarnation of Saint Orlan by Orlan"

PERFORMANCE ART THE REINCARNATION OF SAINT ORLAN BY ORLAN The artist Orlan did a series of videotaped plastic surgeries in which she was to be transformed into a composite image she made of herself that fused features from the Mona Lisa, Botticelli's Venus, Jean-Leon Gerome's Psyche, and Francois Boucher's Europa. CRACKED.COM

JSTOR

"Fire Angel" by Walker Babington

PERFORMANCE ART FIRE ANGEL In 2014, artist Walker Babington took the concept of snow angels, set himself on fire wearing fireproof clothing, and proceeded to make a fire angel on a wooden panel dropped over him for 30 seconds. CRACKED.COM

Vimeo

"Casting off my womb:" by Casey Jenkins

PERFORMANCE ART CASTING OFF MY WOMB: VAGINAL KNITTING Feminist artist Casey Jenkins spent 28 days knitting from wool inserted into her vulva. The Australian artist said: I hope that people question the fears and the negative associations they have with the vulva. CRACKED.COM

Gawker

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