Marina Abramović’s 1974 performance Rhythm 0 stands as a watershed moment in the history of performance art, functioning simultaneously as a brutalist sociological experiment and a harrowing portrait of human nature. By placing 72 objects—ranging from a feather and a rose to a loaded pistol—on a table and offering her own body as a neutral surface for audience interaction, Abramović collapsed the traditional boundary between passive spectator and active participant. This paper argues that Rhythm 0 is not merely a documentation of sadism, but a precise, algorithmic interrogation of social contracts, the diffusion of responsibility, and the latent potential for violence within consensual frameworks. Through a chronological analysis of the six-hour performance, an examination of its psycho-social implications (particularly the Stanford Prison Experiment and bystander effect), and a reflection on its enduring legacy in the #MeToo era, this paper posits that Rhythm 0 reveals the terrifying ease with which civility collapses when authority is abdicated and anonymity is granted. Ultimately, Abramović’s work serves as a prophetic warning: the capacity for atrocity is not an aberration but a latent possibility awaiting the right structural conditions.
Advanced Topics in Performance Art and Social Psychology Date: April 14, 2026 rhythm 0
You're referring to the infamous performance art piece "Rhythm 0" by Marina Abramovic in 1974. Marina Abramović’s 1974 performance Rhythm 0 stands as
Rhythm 0 was not a performance about Marina Abramović. It was a performance about you —the audience member, the citizen, the human being stripped of surveillance and consequence. This paper will explore how Abramović’s radical passivity functioned as a catalyst for collective psychosis, how the performance’s infamous “second act” of violence was not a failure of art but its horrifying success, and why the piece remains the most cited, most disturbing case study in the ethics of participation. Rhythm 0 was not a performance about Marina Abramović
For those who might not know, "Rhythm 0" was a groundbreaking and provocative work where Abramovic invited visitors to use any of 72 objects, ranging from mundane items like fruit and flowers to more unusual ones like a gun, a whip, and a scalpel, to interact with her in any way they wanted for six hours.
Rhythm 0 predicted the moral logic of the digital age: When consequence is removed, cruelty is not an exception; it is the default.
Anwitha Kandula. Independent. Date Written: February 22, 2024. Abstract. This Review article delves into the Dimensions of psychol... SSRN eLibrary Analysis of Power Relations in Performance: - Atlantis Press Keywords: exercise of power, characteristics of power, passive role, active role, transformation. * INTRODUCTION. In 1974, Marina ... Atlantis Press Marina Abramović. Rhythm 0. 1974 - MoMA Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present ... GLENN LOWRY: By the 1970s, performance art had achieved a level of notoriety and even ... MoMA In 1974, artist Marina Abramović performed "Rhythm 0", an art piece ... Apr 11, 2022 —