Artist who had nine orgasms in public museum for performance reveals why it was so 'terrible'

A Serbian performer has a lot of ‘bizarre’ performances under her belt, but recently opened up one of her most talked about.

In case you never did a bit of art appreciation in school, a piece of art isn’t just pretty pictures or nice sculptures.

Throughout history, artists have continued to push limits on what was socially acceptable or expected when it came to art.

Serbian performer Marina Abramovic is certainly one such artist.

The 78-year-old performer has previously insisted she was willing to die for her work, and this was very much a possibility back in 1974 when she invited spectators to do anything to her and her body.

In a recent interview, she spoke candidly about another performance she had previously called ‘terrible’.

The Serbian artist reflected on her 2005 performance(Fashion Neurosis/YouTube)

She recreated a performance by artist Vito Acconci but with a female spin - the piece was based on his performance Seedbed, where Vito reportedly masturbated for eight hours a day for nine days at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York City.

You can guess where this is going...

Abramovic performed her own version in 2005 at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Speaking to New York Art at the time, she said: “Having orgasms publicly, being excited by the visitors steps above me—it’s really not easy, I tell you! I’ve never concentrated so hard in my life.

“The problem for me, with this piece, was the absence of public gaze: only the sound. But I heard that people had a great time; it was like a big party up there! I ended with nine orgasms.

"It was terrible for the next piece—I was so exhausted!”

Speaking on the Fashion Neurosis YouTube channel at the end of last month, Abramovic reflected again on the performance.

She said: “You know feeling orgasm is such an important moment, you feel life, connected to nature, birds the rocks, the trees, everything becomes luminous and beautiful. So if people discover that more, hopefully people are less s***.”

She reiterated many of her talking points from back in 2005 and said: “The piece required masturbation of eight hours under the stage, and the public can just hear my voice on the top.

“You know I take this stuff seriously, so it was complicated because it was like I do this seven hours, more than five orgasms and it was really difficult because next day I have to do performance on something else, I was exhausted.

“I wanted to do [art] piece with the female energy.”

Not sure if I'd go see this kind of performance, but each to their own.