The feature is incomplete without the mirror turned back on the user. After time ends:
If you are researching Marina Abramović Rhythm 0 today, you are likely seeing echoes of the piece in modern life. Consider: marina abramovic rhythm 0
Abramović herself has reflected that if she were to perform Rhythm 0 again today, she believes the ending would be the same—or worse. She famously concluded: “What I learned was that if you let the audience do whatever they want, you will be dead in a few hours.” The feature is incomplete without the mirror turned
When the performance ended and the audience fled, Abramovic stood trembling. She could not stop shaking for days. She went to a hotel room, looked in the mirror, and found a gray hair. She claims the terror of that night caused her hair to turn white in a single evening (though likely a dramatic embellishment, it captures the trauma). Abramović herself has reflected that if she were
Significantly, Abramovic later said that the performance had a secondary victim: the audience. Those who participated had to live with the memory of what they had done. One woman came backstage sobbing, apologizing. She said, "I don't know why I did it."
Abramovic’s response was haunting: "You have to live with that for the rest of your life."
Rhythm 0 became the cornerstone of her career. It established her “Martha Graham of the soul” reputation. It also established a rule she would follow for the rest of her life: never again would she put the audience in a position of absolute power without a relationship. In her later works (like The Artist is Present at MoMA in 2010), the audience could sit opposite her and cry, but they could not cut her. The barrier of the table remained, but the violence was replaced by vulnerability.