![\"marina\"](\"http:\/\/www.dirtfarmchronicles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/marina.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThis piece was primarily a trust exercise, in which she told viewers she would not move for six hours no matter what they did to her. She placed 72 objects one could use in pleasing or destructive ways, ranging from flowers and a feather boa to a knife and a loaded pistol, on a table near her and invited the viewers to use them on her however they wanted.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Initially, Abramovi\u0107 said, viewers were peaceful and timid, but it escalated to violence quickly. \u201cThe experience I learned was that \u2026 if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed\u2026 I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation.<\/p>\n This piece revealed something terrible about humanity, similar to what Philip Zimbardo\u2019s Stanford Prison Experiment or Stanley Milgram\u2019s Obedience Experiment, both of which also proved how readily people will harm one another under unusual circumstances.<\/p>\n This performance showed just how easy it is to dehumanize a person who doesn\u2019t fight back and is particularly powerful because it defies what we think we know about ourselves. I\u2019m certain the no one reading this believes the people around him\/her capable of doing such things to another human being, but this performance proves otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n and then a follow up comment:<\/p>\n “So every single person who told me \u2018ignore them they\u2019ll go away\u2019 and \u2018you can\u2019t let them know they bothered you\u2019 and ‘They\u2019ll stop if they don\u2019t see you react\u2019 and all that bull shit, my entire school career, I want you to look good and hard at this.<\/p>\n I want you to think about what you said.<\/p>\n What you keep saying.<\/p>\n What you are telling your children.<\/p>\n You are making them powerless.”<\/p>\n