Performance
Nude with Skeleton
Marina Abramović: Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition
Marina Abramović, Nude with Skeleton, Performance for video, Belgrade, 2002-2005 © Marina Abramović, Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026, photo: Attilio Maranzano
Marina Abramović’s performance Nude with Skeleton, originally enacted by Abramović herself in 2002, presents an intimate encounter with death: a naked, heavily breathing body animates the inert limbs of a human skeleton, which rests against its living counterpart. As part of the exhibition Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition, the work can be experienced daily (except on Tuesdays).
Nude with Skeleton is inspired by a Tibetan Buddhist practice in which monks sleep beside the dead to overcome the fear of dying. Such rituals are meant to train the mind to remain present with the reality of impermanence. By placing their own bodies in contact with a skeleton, the performers adopts a similar discipline, confronting mortality openly.
Performers
Rachell Bo Clark, Phoenix Chase-Maeres, Emma Lusena Ash, Roksolana Nakvatska, Yiannis Pappas, Miki Shoji, Hilla Steinert, Aya Toraiwa
Rebecca Davis – Casting and Training