Was Marina Abramović Inspired by the Bible?
Was Marina Abramović Inspired by the Bible When Creating Her Performances? Some might say, “How dare you even ask such a question?” What communist woman, who performs naked and cuts her own body, has to do with the Holy Bible? But let me explain. First, let's dive into what performance art really means.
According to Merriam-Webster, a performance is defined as “a public presentation or exhibition.”1 In today’s world, the term performance often carries negative connotations, associated with artificiality, exaggeration, or even theatrical deception. It is often seen as something superficial—“just a performance.”, empty, without real meaning. Yet, at its core, performance is all about storytelling and the delivery of a message in the most compelling way possible, a way that is not traditional in the sense of form used, yet powerful and deep in meaning. For decades, performance art was not taken seriously. Maybe some reasons and hesitation was the obvious comparison of the performance art with theater. The art world struggled to evaluate it because it lacked a traditional physical form. As Grant Kester asks in Conversation Pieces, “If, as I am suggesting, the evaluative framework for these projects is no longer centered on the physical object, then what is the new locus of judgment?”2 It took nearly fifty years for the art world to develop a framework that respected performance art. Marina Abramović herself expressed this sentiment in an interview with Alejandra de Argos: “It took 50 years of my career for people to stop asking me why performance is art […] People tell you that you are a masochist, a sadist, an exhibitionist, that it is nonsense, not art. Performance art was only watched by your circle of friends. Now there are hundreds of thousands of people watching.”3
It is hard to evaluate something when you don’t have time to analyze or can’t come back to it and make another assessment. Even if performance is repeated, it is still not quite the same. Then, when analyzing performance art, new lenses should be used. In my opinion, two main factors should be utilized - associations and background. These are our clues to get a hold of the deeper meaning of a particular performance. Unfortunately, nowadays, performance art can be misused for self-promotional purposes more than for the sake of telling the story. That is why careful and deep thinking must be taken before deciding if this is authentic performance art or merely a freak show or flesh mob.
Once critics acknowledged the importance of performance as a medium, they began to appreciate its potential. RoseLee Goldberg explains, “Performance art was a way of bringing to life the many formal and conceptual ideas on which the making of art is based.”4 In the case of Abramović, performance is never about spectacle for its own sake—it is a tool for challenging perception, telling stories, and offering a message that can be both dynamic and didactic. She could also paint or make sculpture, yet for her ideas, the strongest way to channel them into the world is to perform them live, to interact with people in real life.
Many of Abramović’s performances read like modern-day parables. In Balkan Baroque (1997), for example, she sat in a basement, washing bloody cow bones for six hours a day over four days while singing songs from her childhood. This act was a haunting meditation on war and memory. She explained: “Balkan Baroque… is a metaphor for any war in any time and space. I still think that no one can wash the blood off their hands. What's done is done. At the same time, I believe that the only way not to be trapped by feelings of guilt and remorse and not repeat the past is to look ahead.”5 When we think and try to make associations and dive into potential background, the Bible comes to my mind. This performance echoes the dramatic prophetic gestures of the Hebrew Bible. In Ezekiel 4:12–156, God commanded the prophet to bake bread using human excrement as fuel—a grotesque act intended to illustrate Israel’s spiritual defilement. Ezekiel eventually negotiated with God to use cow dung instead. The strong visual metaphor was a warning to the people of Israel. Performance art, like Biblical prophecy, sometimes relies on visceral discomfort to communicate deep truths. Artists make a choice to use strong imagery that is touching many senses. It is not just sight that is affected; performance art involves smell, like in this case with Abramović’s performance, cow bones left an overwhelming odor of death. Often, performance art involves touch or even taste. As Ossian Ward writes, “Performances demand more attention and interaction from the casual onlooker, either by presenting actual bodily harm or by provoking a possibly wince-inducing reaction.”7
In many ways, Abramović’s methods are deeply spiritual. Her disciplines of solitude and fasting resonate with Biblical themes, particularly the account of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. In The House with the Ocean View (2002), Abramović lived in a minimalist “house” built inside a gallery space. For twelve days, she did not eat and remained in isolation, with access to only water and basic necessities. The performance space included three ladders, each with rungs made of upward-facing butcher knives—emphasizing the tension between imprisonment and voluntary isolation.8 Just as Jesus resisted turning stones into bread, Abramović chose to fast, symbolizing restraint, inner reflection, and a connection to something beyond the material.
Marina Abramovich took performance art a step further when she involved viewers into the action. Perhaps the most strong example is Rhythm 0 (1974), one of Abramović’s most iconic performances. In this piece, she stood still in a gallery for six hours, allowing the audience to interact with her using 72 objects laid out on a table. These objects ranged from benign items like a feather and a rose to dangerous ones such as a whip, a scalpel, and a loaded gun. Abramović later said, “What I learned was that… if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you.”9 This chilling performance mirrors the moral message of Romans 3:2310: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Even a cultured, educated audience was capable of cruelty and violence when given unchecked freedom. How profound this performance was to show that people's hearts are corrupt and need a Savior. How well we might say we are - yet in action who knows how we would treat another person when given the opportunity. The only thing that saved Marina that day from being killed was the museum setting and guards.
In conclusion, it is evident that Marina Abramović has drawn inspiration—whether consciously or unconsciously—from the Bible. Her work echoes Biblical narratives and prophetic acts, not only through symbolism and discipline but also through moral confrontation and emotional intensity. I think even though she grew up in communist family where there was no love or deep connection, her deeply religious orthodox grandmother planted the seeds of her Christian worldview. That way of upbringing and tension between two worldviews gave Abramovich phenomenal power and curiosity to life, strength to challenge perspectives and speak loudly about the world and how fallen it is. Through her passion for storytelling and her engagement with the human condition, she invites her audience to reflect, repent, and remember. She inspires us to think deeply, to slow down and analyze, her iconic performance like a great Biblical narrative not just shows the condition of the heart but also offers hope.
Bibliography
Merriam-Webster, Performance, accessed June 27, 2025, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/performance.
Kester, Grant. Conversation Pieces: The Role of Dialogue in Socially-Engaged Art. In Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985. Blackwell, 2005.
Abramović, Marina. Interview by Elena Cué. “Interview with Marina Abramović.” Alejandra de Argos, November 26, 2018. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://www.alejandradeargos.com/index.php/en/all-articles/21-guests-with-art/41625-marina-abramovic-interview
Goldberg, RoseLee. Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present. Revised and expanded ed. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2011.
Abramović, Marina. “What Marina Abramović Has Said About the Balkans, Yugoslavia, and Belgrade.” Telegraf.rs, September 19, 2019. Accessed June 26, 2025.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001), Ezek. 4:12–15.
Ward, Ossian. Ways of Looking: How to Experience Contemporary Art. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2014.
The Art Book. London: Phaidon Press, 2020.
Pereira, Lorenzo. “Marina Abramović Art Pieces You Should Know.” Artsper, March 6, 2025. https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/women-artists/marina-abramovic-art/
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001), Rom. 3:23