Marina Abramović is renowned for pushing the limits of performance art—and her own physical endurance. Yet, even by her bold standards, one of her performances remains uniquely intense and grueling.
In a recent interview, Serbian artist Marina Abramović reflected on her controversial 2005 performance at New York’s Guggenheim Museum—a daring reinterpretation of Vito Acconci’s provocative 1972 piece Seedbed. She described the experience as “terrible,” “complicated,” and physically draining.
Acconci’s original work involved him engaging in a private act beneath a gallery ramp while responding to visitors walking above. Abramović’s version flipped the narrative, delving into themes of gender, energy, and creation from a distinctly female perspective.
“Having intense physical experiences in public, stimulated by the footsteps of visitors above me—it’s really not easy, I tell you!” Abramović shared with New York Art in 2005. “I’ve never concentrated so hard in my life.”
Though the audience only heard her voice and never saw her, the performance demanded extraordinary endurance. Over the course of a single session, Abramović reached nine climaxes—a feat she now recalls as utterly exhausting.
“I was completely drained,” she admitted. “The next day, I had to perform something entirely different, and I could barely function.”
In a recent episode of Bella Freud’s Fashion Neurosis podcast, Abramović opened up further about the emotional and physical toll of the performance.
“The piece demanded hours of intense focus beneath the stage,” she explained. “After a while, it became incredibly difficult. I was utterly drained—but I take my work seriously, so I pushed through.”
For Abramović, this performance wasn’t about shock or provocation—it was a profound journey of transformation. She described each climax as a burst of raw vitality, a powerful connection to the natural world.
“You feel life itself—the birds, the rocks, the trees—everything suddenly shines with a luminous energy,” she said.
Her aim was to explore the creative force of female energy, flipping Acconci’s original metaphor of seeding into her own powerful vision of creation, presence, and vulnerability.
True to form, Abramović remains unapologetically authentic. “I don’t fake it,” she declared. “I never fake anything.”
