Marina Abramović's First Performance Artwork

Marina Abramović, Rhythm 10, Part 2 | Photograph: Dezan Poznanovic, © Marina Abramović

Marina Abramović is one of the most prominent performance artists of our time. Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1946, she began her career in the early 1970s and has continued to be active over three decades. She has described herself as the “grandmother of performance art”.

Abramović’s work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. Her first performance, entitled Rhythm 10, was in 1973 and performed at a festival in Edinburgh. Like many of her performances, it explored elements of ritual and gesture.

As stated by the artist:

Preparation
I lay a sheet of white paper on the floor. I lay twenty knives of different shapes and sizes on the floor. I place two cassette recorders with microphones on the floor.

Performance
I switch on the first cassette recorder. I take the knife and plunge it, as fast as I can, into the flesh between the outstretched fingers of my left hand. After each cut, I change to a different knife. Once all the knives (all the rhythms) have been used, I rewind the tape. I listen to the recording of the first performance. I concentrate. I repeat the first part of the performance. I pick up the knives in the same sequence, adhere to the same rhythm and cut myself in the same places. In this performance, the mistakes of the past and those of the present are synchronous. I rewind the same tape and listen to the dual rhythm of the knives. I leave.