The body of evidence. Martyrdom and performance art according to Marina Abramović

Abstract

This paper concerns Marina Abramović’s performance art, focusing on some analogies between her “art of behavior” and martyrdom, and regarding in particular the implied relations of power and knowledge, which are responsible for the construction and authentication of the “subject of truth”.
Besides the huge number of references to Christianity, Christian literature and iconography that emerge throughout Abramović's entire work, the paper proposes a synchronic and immanent comparison between hagiographical topoi and some particularly significant works from the cycle Rhythm (1973-75), in order to highlight a common enunciation and discursive device.