it takes me 3-7 business days to reply to texts
“This piece was primarily a trust exercise, in which she told viewers she would not move for six hours no matter what they did to her. She placed 72 objects one could use in pleasing or destructive ways, ranging from flowers and a feather boa to a knife and a loaded pistol, on a table near her and invited the viewers to use them on her however they wanted.
Initially, Abramović said, viewers were peaceful and timid, but it escalated to violence quickly. “The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation.”
This piece revealed something terrible about humanity, similar to what Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment or Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiment, both of which also proved how readily people will harm one another under unusual circumstances.”
This performance showed just how easy it is to dehumanize a person who doesn’t fight back, and is particularly powerful because it defies what we think we know about ourselves. I’m certain the no one reading this believes the people around him/her capable of doing such things to another human being, but this performance proves otherwise.”
THIS is just so incredibly powerful. I literally can’t find any other words to describe how I’m feeling. This just moved me.
(Source: andrewfishman)
Homer wrote these words in his poem the Iliad and I can’t help but just reflect on how much war hurts our sense of global connection and what we view as acceptable ways to settle differences. Power hungry countries wanting to dominate the globe do not make for a peaceful and healthy humanity.
FOUR MORE YEARS OF PBS!
CAN YOU TELL ME HOW TO GET… HOW TO GET TO SESAME STREET?! WOOT.
