WEBVTT 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:09.176 Now... 00:00:09.200 --> 00:00:11.280 let's go back in time. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:16.560 It's 1974. 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:20.520 There is the gallery somewhere... 00:00:21.880 --> 00:00:23.600 in the world, 00:00:25.080 --> 00:00:28.376 and there is a young girl, aged 23, 00:00:28.400 --> 00:00:30.920 standing in the middle of the space. 00:00:32.759 --> 00:00:36.080 In the front of her is a table. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:41.880 On the table there are 76 objects 00:00:42.720 --> 00:00:45.440 for pleasure and for the pain. 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:48.696 Some of the objects are 00:00:48.720 --> 00:00:54.520 a glass of water, a coat, a shoe, a rose. 00:00:55.160 --> 00:01:00.640 But also the knife, the razor blade, the hammer... 00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:04.239 and the pistol with one bullet. 00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:09.216 There are instructions which say, 00:01:09.240 --> 00:01:10.976 "I'm an object. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:14.336 You can use everything on the table on me. 00:01:14.360 --> 00:01:18.440 I'm taking all responsibility -- even killing me. 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:21.520 And the time is six hours." 00:01:23.600 --> 00:01:27.400 The beginning of this performance was easy. 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:31.856 People would give me the glass of water to drink, 00:01:31.880 --> 00:01:33.520 they'd give me the rose. 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:36.896 But after very soon, 00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:40.416 there was a man who took the scissors and cut my clothes, 00:01:40.440 --> 00:01:44.440 and then they took the thorns of the rose and stuck them in my stomach. 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:49.280 Somebody took the razor blade and cut my neck and drank the blood. 00:01:49.960 --> 00:01:51.680 And I still have the scar. 00:01:52.720 --> 00:01:55.280 The women would tell the men what to do. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:00.816 And the men didn't rape me because it was just a normal opening, 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:02.536 and it was all public, 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:04.936 and they were with their wives. 00:02:04.960 --> 00:02:07.216 They carried me around and put me on the table, 00:02:07.240 --> 00:02:09.136 and put the knife between my legs. 00:02:09.160 --> 00:02:12.800 And somebody took the pistol and bullet and put it against my temple. 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:17.560 And another person took the pistol and they started a fight. 00:02:18.920 --> 00:02:21.656 And after six hours were finished, 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.176 I... 00:02:24.200 --> 00:02:27.336 started walking towards the public. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:28.576 I was a mess. 00:02:28.600 --> 00:02:32.920 I was half-naked, I was full of blood and tears were running down my face. 00:02:34.040 --> 00:02:36.880 And everybody escaped, they just ran away. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:42.280 They could not confront myself, with myself as a normal human being. 00:02:42.760 --> 00:02:44.080 And then -- 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:46.560 what happened 00:02:47.240 --> 00:02:51.720 is I went to the hotel, it was at two in the morning. 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:54.760 And... 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:57.880 I looked at myself in the mirror, 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:02.320 and I had a piece of gray hair. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:05.440 Alright -- 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.040 please take off your blindfolds. 00:03:10.760 --> 00:03:13.040 Welcome to the performance world. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:16.880 First of all, let's explain what is the performance. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:20.376 So many artists, so many different explanations, 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:23.160 but my explanation for performance is very simple. 00:03:23.640 --> 00:03:28.216 Performance is a mental and physical construction 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:31.056 that the performer makes in a specific time 00:03:31.080 --> 00:03:34.376 in a space in front of an audience, 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:36.720 and then energy dialogue happens. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:40.800 The audience and the performer make the piece together. 00:03:41.600 --> 00:03:45.360 And the difference between performance and theater is huge. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:49.696 In the theater, the knife is not a knife 00:03:49.720 --> 00:03:51.640 and the blood is just ketchup. 00:03:52.040 --> 00:03:56.576 In the performance, the blood is the material, 00:03:56.600 --> 00:03:59.896 and the razor blade or knife is the tool. 00:03:59.920 --> 00:04:03.816 It's all about being there in the real time, 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:05.696 and you can't rehearse performance, 00:04:05.720 --> 00:04:10.040 because you can't do many of these types of things twice -- ever. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:13.856 Which is very important, the performance is -- 00:04:13.880 --> 00:04:18.176 you know, all human beings are always afraid of very simple things. 00:04:18.200 --> 00:04:21.576 We're afraid of suffering, we're afraid of pain, 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:23.680 we're afraid of mortality. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:25.496 So what I'm doing -- 00:04:25.520 --> 00:04:29.736 I'm staging these kinds of fears in front of the audience. 00:04:29.760 --> 00:04:31.936 I'm using your energy, 00:04:31.960 --> 00:04:37.736 and with this energy I can go and push my body as far as I can. 00:04:37.760 --> 00:04:41.336 And then I liberate myself from these fears. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:42.656 And I'm your mirror. 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:45.960 If I can do this for myself, you can do it for you. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:48.776 After Belgrade, where I was born, 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:51.080 I went to Amsterdam. 00:04:51.440 --> 00:04:54.056 And you know, I've been doing performances 00:04:54.080 --> 00:04:56.336 since the last 40 years. 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:57.936 And here I met Ulay, 00:04:57.960 --> 00:05:01.336 and he was the person I actually fell in love with. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:04.496 And we made, for 12 years, performances together. 00:05:04.520 --> 00:05:07.776 You know the knife and the pistols and the bullets, 00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:10.736 I exchange into love and trust. 00:05:10.760 --> 00:05:14.376 So to do this kind work you have to trust the person completely 00:05:14.400 --> 00:05:17.416 because this arrow is pointing to my heart. 00:05:17.440 --> 00:05:21.776 So, heart beating and adrenaline is rushing and so on, 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:26.320 is about trust, is about total trust to another human being. 00:05:27.320 --> 00:05:29.536 Our relationship was 12 years, 00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:33.416 and we worked on so many subjects, both male and female energy. 00:05:33.440 --> 00:05:37.576 And as every relationship comes to an end, ours went too. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:41.256 We didn't make phone calls like normal human beings do 00:05:41.280 --> 00:05:43.256 and say, you know, "This is over." 00:05:43.280 --> 00:05:46.280 We walked the Great Wall of China to say goodbye. 00:05:46.640 --> 00:05:50.720 I started at the Yellow Sea, and he started from the Gobi Desert. 00:05:51.200 --> 00:05:54.576 We walked, each of us, three months, 00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:56.440 two and a half thousand kilometers. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:58.776 It was the mountains, it was difficult. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.136 It was climbing, it was ruins. 00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:04.256 It was, you know, going through the 12 Chinese provinces, 00:06:04.280 --> 00:06:08.096 this was before China was open in '87. 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:11.656 And we succeeded to meet in the middle 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:13.160 to say goodbye. 00:06:14.320 --> 00:06:16.160 And then our relationship stopped. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:20.960 And now, it completely changed how I see the public. 00:06:21.280 --> 00:06:24.416 And one very important piece I made in those days 00:06:24.440 --> 00:06:26.416 was "Balkan Baroque." 00:06:26.440 --> 00:06:29.136 And this was the time of the Balkan Wars, 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:32.696 and I wanted to create some very strong, charismatic image, 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:36.016 something that could serve for any war at any time, 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:40.056 because Balkan Wars are now finished, but there's always some war somewhere. 00:06:40.080 --> 00:06:42.056 So here I am washing 00:06:42.080 --> 00:06:45.856 two and a half thousand dead, big, bloody cow bones. 00:06:45.880 --> 00:06:49.416 You can't wash the blood, you never can wash shame off the wars. 00:06:49.440 --> 00:06:54.016 So I'm washing this six hours, six days, and wars are coming off these bones, 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:57.280 and becoming possible -- an unbearable smell. 00:06:57.640 --> 00:07:00.496 But then something stays in the memory. 00:07:00.520 --> 00:07:03.256 I want to show you the one who really changed my life, 00:07:03.280 --> 00:07:07.416 and this was the performance in MoMa which just recently I made. 00:07:07.440 --> 00:07:10.776 This performance, when I said to the curator, 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:12.776 "I'm just going to sit at the chair, 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:15.336 and there will be an empty chair at the front, 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.856 and anybody from the public can come and sit as long as they want." 00:07:18.880 --> 00:07:20.096 The curator said to me, 00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:22.776 "That's ridiculous, you know, this is New York, 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:24.016 this chair will be empty, 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:25.945 nobody has time to sit in front of you." 00:07:25.969 --> 00:07:27.136 (Laughter) 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:29.056 But I sit for three months. 00:07:29.080 --> 00:07:31.016 And I sit everyday, eight hours -- 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:32.416 the opening of the museum -- 00:07:32.440 --> 00:07:35.336 and 10 hours on Friday when the museum is open 10 hours, 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:36.534 and I never move. 00:07:36.558 --> 00:07:39.416 And I removed the table and I'm still sitting, 00:07:39.440 --> 00:07:41.560 and this changed everything. 00:07:41.960 --> 00:07:44.296 This performance, maybe 10 or 15 years ago -- 00:07:44.320 --> 00:07:45.736 nothing would have happened. 00:07:45.760 --> 00:07:50.656 But the need of people to actually experience something different, 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:52.776 the public was not anymore the group -- 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:54.800 relation was one to one. 00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:58.896 I was watching these people, they would come and sit in front of me, 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:01.616 but they would have to wait for hours and hours and hours 00:08:01.640 --> 00:08:02.798 to get to this position, 00:08:02.823 --> 00:08:04.376 and finally, they sit. 00:08:04.400 --> 00:08:05.960 And what happened? 00:08:06.440 --> 00:08:08.576 They are observed by the other people, 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:11.176 they're photographed, they're filmed by the camera, 00:08:11.200 --> 00:08:12.576 they're observed by me 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:15.760 and they have nowhere to escape except in themselves. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:17.816 And that makes a difference. 00:08:17.840 --> 00:08:19.656 There was so much pain and loneliness, 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:23.776 there's so much incredible things when you look in somebody else's eyes, 00:08:23.800 --> 00:08:26.776 because in the gaze with that total stranger, 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.800 that you never even say one word -- everything happened. 00:08:30.200 --> 00:08:35.176 And I understood when I stood up from that chair after three months, 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:36.775 I am not the same anymore. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:39.576 And I understood that I have a very strong mission, 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.856 that I have to communicate this experience 00:08:42.880 --> 00:08:44.135 to everybody. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:46.976 And this is how, for me, was born the idea 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:51.000 to have an institute of immaterial performing arts. 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:54.216 Because thinking about immateriality, 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:55.696 performance is time-based art. 00:08:55.720 --> 00:08:57.056 It's not like a painting. 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:59.856 You have the painting on the wall, the next day it's there. 00:08:59.880 --> 00:09:04.576 Performance, if you are missing it, you only have the memory, 00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:06.936 or the story of somebody else telling you, 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:08.896 but you actually missed the whole thing. 00:09:08.920 --> 00:09:10.136 So you have to be there. 00:09:10.160 --> 00:09:13.056 And in my point, if you talk about immaterial art, 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:16.456 music is the highest -- absolutely highest art of all, 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:18.256 because it's the most immaterial. 00:09:18.280 --> 00:09:21.138 And then after this is performance, and then everything else. 00:09:21.162 --> 00:09:22.696 That's my subjective way. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.616 This institute is going to happen in Hudson, upstate New York, 00:09:26.640 --> 00:09:29.640 and we are trying to build with Rem Koolhaas, an idea. 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:31.216 And it's very simple. 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:35.896 If you want to get experience, you have to give me your time. 00:09:35.920 --> 00:09:39.016 You have to sign the contract before you enter the building, 00:09:39.040 --> 00:09:41.896 that you will spend there a full six hours, 00:09:41.920 --> 00:09:44.576 you have to give me your word of honor. 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:46.496 It's something so old-fashioned, 00:09:46.520 --> 00:09:49.856 but if you don't respect your own word of honor and you leave before -- 00:09:49.880 --> 00:09:51.096 that's not my problem. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:53.616 But it's the six hours, the experience. 00:09:53.640 --> 00:09:56.783 And then after you finish, you get a certificate of accomplishment, 00:09:56.807 --> 00:09:58.856 so get home and frame it if you want. 00:09:58.880 --> 00:09:59.896 (Laughter) 00:09:59.920 --> 00:10:01.256 This is orientation hall. 00:10:01.280 --> 00:10:05.776 The public comes in, and the first thing you have to do is dress in lab coats. 00:10:05.800 --> 00:10:07.016 It's this importance 00:10:07.040 --> 00:10:11.256 of stepping from being just a viewer into experimenter. 00:10:11.280 --> 00:10:13.696 And then you go to the lockers 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:17.016 and you put your watch, your iPhone, your iPod, your computer 00:10:17.040 --> 00:10:19.336 and everything digital, electronic. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:23.696 And you are getting free time for yourself for the first time. 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:27.096 Because there is nothing wrong with technology, 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.456 our approach to technology is wrong. 00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:32.176 We are losing the time we have for ourselves. 00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:35.496 This is an institute to actually give you back this time. 00:10:35.520 --> 00:10:36.776 So what you do here, 00:10:36.800 --> 00:10:39.896 first you start slow walking, you start slowing down. 00:10:39.920 --> 00:10:41.856 You're going back to simplicity. 00:10:41.880 --> 00:10:45.496 After slowing walking, you're going to learn how to drink water -- 00:10:45.520 --> 00:10:49.160 very simple, drinking water for maybe half an hour. 00:10:49.640 --> 00:10:51.936 After this, you're going to the Magnet Chamber, 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:55.856 where you're going to create some magnet streams on your body. 00:10:55.880 --> 00:10:58.336 Then after this, you go to Crystal Chamber. 00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:01.136 After Crystal Chamber, you go to Eye-Gazing Chamber, 00:11:01.160 --> 00:11:05.256 after Eye-Gazing Chamber, you go to a chamber where you are lying down. 00:11:05.280 --> 00:11:07.736 So it's the three basic positions of the human body, 00:11:07.760 --> 00:11:09.096 sitting, standing and lying. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:10.656 And slow walking. 00:11:10.680 --> 00:11:12.496 And there is a sound chamber. 00:11:12.520 --> 00:11:14.856 And then after you've seen all of this, 00:11:14.880 --> 00:11:17.023 and prepared yourself mentally and physically, 00:11:17.047 --> 00:11:19.714 then you are ready to see something with a long duration, 00:11:19.738 --> 00:11:22.096 like in immaterial art. 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:25.976 It can be music, it can be opera, it can be theater piece, 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.896 it can be film, it can be video dance. 00:11:28.920 --> 00:11:32.736 You go to the long duration chairs because now you are comfortable. 00:11:32.760 --> 00:11:34.136 In the long duration chairs, 00:11:34.160 --> 00:11:37.856 you're transported to the big place where you're going to see the work. 00:11:37.880 --> 00:11:39.096 And if you fall asleep, 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:41.656 which is very possible because it's been a long day, 00:11:41.680 --> 00:11:44.136 you're going to be transported to the parking lot. 00:11:44.160 --> 00:11:45.776 (Laughter) 00:11:45.800 --> 00:11:48.616 And you know, sleeping is very important. 00:11:48.640 --> 00:11:51.416 In sleeping, you're still receiving art. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:55.136 So in the parking lot you stay for a certain amount of time, 00:11:55.160 --> 00:11:58.416 and then after this you just, you know, go back, 00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:00.776 you see more of the things you like to see 00:12:00.800 --> 00:12:02.840 or go home with your certificate. 00:12:03.280 --> 00:12:06.696 So this institute right now is virtual. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:09.576 Right now, I am just making my institute in Brazil, 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:11.267 then it's going to be in Australia, 00:12:11.291 --> 00:12:14.416 then it's coming here, to Canada and everywhere. 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:17.936 And this is to experience a kind of simple method, 00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:20.856 how you go back to simplicity in your own life. 00:12:20.880 --> 00:12:22.840 Counting rice will be another thing. 00:12:23.760 --> 00:12:25.656 (Laughter) 00:12:25.680 --> 00:12:28.176 You know, if you count rice you can make life, too. 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:30.376 How to count rice for six hours? 00:12:30.400 --> 00:12:32.096 It's incredibly important. 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:36.256 You know, you go through this whole range of being bored, being angry, 00:12:36.280 --> 00:12:40.736 being completely frustrated, not finishing the amount of rice you're counting. 00:12:40.760 --> 00:12:43.536 And then this unbelievable amount of peace you get 00:12:43.560 --> 00:12:46.016 when satisfying work is finished -- 00:12:46.040 --> 00:12:47.840 or counting sand in the desert. 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:52.096 Or having the sound-isolated situation -- 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:54.696 that you have headphones, that you don't hear anything, 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:57.416 and you're just there together without sound, 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:02.296 with the people experiencing silence, just the simple silence. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:06.536 We are always doing things we like in our life. 00:13:06.560 --> 00:13:08.816 And this is why you're not changing. 00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:10.296 You do things in life -- 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:13.720 it's just nothing happens if you always do things the same way. 00:13:14.200 --> 00:13:19.296 But my method is to do things I'm afraid of, the things I fear, 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:20.816 the things I don't know, 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:23.696 to go to territory that nobody's ever been. 00:13:23.720 --> 00:13:26.576 And then also to include the failure. 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:28.336 I think failure is important 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:32.096 because if you go, if you experiment, you can fail. 00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:34.776 If you don't go into that area and you don't fail, 00:13:34.800 --> 00:13:37.800 you are actually repeating yourself over and over again. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:42.136 And I think that human beings right now need a change, 00:13:42.160 --> 00:13:46.256 and the only change to be made is a personal level change. 00:13:46.280 --> 00:13:48.856 You have to make the change on yourself. 00:13:48.880 --> 00:13:51.376 Because the only way to change consciousness, 00:13:51.400 --> 00:13:53.416 and to change the world around us, 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:55.136 is to start with yourself. 00:13:55.160 --> 00:13:57.656 It's so easy to criticize how it's different, 00:13:57.680 --> 00:13:59.823 the things in the world and they're not right, 00:13:59.847 --> 00:14:03.096 and the governments are corrupted and there's hunger in the world 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:06.576 and there's wars -- the killing. 00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:09.176 But what we do on the personal level -- 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:12.160 what is our contribution to this whole thing? 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:16.056 Can you turn to your neighbor, the one you don't know, 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.200 and look at them for two full minutes in their eyes, right now? 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:26.336 (Chatter) 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:30.256 I'm asking two minutes of your time, that's so little. 00:14:30.280 --> 00:14:35.616 Breathe slowly, don't try to blink, don't be self-conscious. 00:14:35.640 --> 00:14:37.256 Be relaxed. 00:14:37.280 --> 00:14:42.680 And just look a complete stranger in his eyes. 00:14:43.520 --> 00:14:45.280 (Silence) 00:15:23.040 --> 00:15:24.680 Thank you for trusting me. 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:30.720 (Applause) 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:34.960 Chris Anderson: Thank you. 00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:38.040 Thank you so much.