From Bizarre to Macabre: 50 of the Strangest Art Performances

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1 The Death of The Artist – Abel Azcona

Abel Azcona’s performance art piece “The Death of The Artist” involved him standing on a raised platform, inviting several people who had threatened his life, and offering them a gun to kill him.

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2 Shoot – Chris Burden

American artist Chris Burden was shot in the arm by a friend as part of his 1971 performance art piece “Shoot,” which he described in a BBC interview as “as American as apple pie.”

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3 Survival Research Laboratories

Survival Research Laboratories was a performance art group that used custom-built robots that often destroyed each other to make loud, violent, and destructive shows.

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4 Fixation – Petr Pavlensky

In 2013, Russian artist Petr Pavlensky stripped naked and nailed his scrotum to the pavement of Red Square in front of Lenin’s Mausoleum in a performance art piece called “Fixation.”

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5 Rhythm 0 – Marina Abramovic

In 1974, Marina Abramovic completed a 6-hour performance art exhibit where she stood in front of a table of 72 objects (including a loaded gun) and let the audience do whatever they wanted with her, leading to her clothes being cut off and a loaded gun being pointed at her head by the general public.

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6 One Year Performance – Tehching Hsieh

For a performance art piece named “One Year Performance 1980-1981,” artist Tehching Hsieh spent a year punching a time clock every hour on the hour and photographing himself immediately after. He shaved his head before starting, so his hair growth would reflect the passage of time.

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7 Mao Sugiyama

Japanese performance artist Mao Sugiyama cooked his genitals with mushrooms and parsley and served them to five paying guests who had paid 100,000 yen each. The Japanese authorities were notified but chose not to act, as cannibalism is not illegal in Japan.

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8 Rick Gibson

Performance artist Rick Gibson is known for eating human flesh in public places, and while there is no anti-cannibalism statute in England, he has been arrested for making earrings out of human fetuses.

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9 Break Down – Michael Landy

In 2001, artist Michael Landy destroyed all of his possessions as part of his performance art piece “Break Down,” which he described as witnessing his own death and feeling happy about it.

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10 K Foundation Burn a Million Quid

In 1994, the duo behind electronic band The KLF burned one million pounds they had earned in a performance art piece called “K Foundation Burn a Million Quid,” with one of them later expressing regret for their actions.

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