Marina Abramovic doesn’t explicitly label herself a feminist artist. However, aspects of her work arguably speak of feminist ideas and notions, especially in the context of the time period in which her earlier performances took place. Rhythm 0, 1974 suggests how Abramovic was readily giving her physical self over to the public, and the violence and abuse that the performance escalated into perhaps shows society’s lack of respect for women. It’s interesting to think about how conducting the same experiment with a man in Abramovic’s place could have worked out: would the public respect a male performer more?

Contextually, this performance happened during the period of Second Wave Feminism, and so it’s interesting to consider how Abramovic may have been influenced by the movement when coming up with this idea. Certainly, Abramovic would have attracted a much different reaction had she attempted this performance in a time where feminism progressing. It’s without saying that this performance was controversial, but Abramovic’s gender would have definitely been an alarming factor had this been done pre-feminism, for example.

Bibliography:

CUJAH. (2017). Reading Marina Abramović’s Performance Art as a Feminist Act. [online] Available at: http://cujah.org/past-volumes/volume-vi/essay-8-volume-6/ [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017]