Sublime

Left: Portrait of Maria Callas by Cecil Beaton, 1957; right: my homage to Maria, 2011

Rhythm 10 (performance, 1 hour), Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Villa Borghese, Rome, 1973

Cleaning the House, walking for 10 hours after 4 days without food or talk, student workshop, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1995

The Hero, silver gelatin print, 2001/2008

This reaction to my work led me to plan my most daring piece to date. What if instead of doing something to myself, I let the public decide what to do to me?

Then, just before midnight, the same door opened and the same five guys carried in another huge platter—with Jan Hoet lying on it, naked except for a bow tie. Imagine any other museum director in the world doing that.