Being Shattered: Fragility and Our Psychogenesis. In: The Phenomenology of Blood in Performance Art

This chapter examines the intersection of fragility, blood, and performance art, tracing how bodily vulnerability influences both artists and spectators. Through a phenomenological lens, the discussion considers the works of Marina Abramović, ORLAN, and Ron Athey—artists whose performances use blood as a medium to explore the thresholds between life and death, self and other. Anchored in the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty and extended through Drew Leder’s theory of viscerality, the chapter explores how these performances transcend the physical, implicating audiences in an embodied, affective experience.
Abramović’s Lips of Thomas (1975) exemplifies the transformative potential of self-inflicted suffering, where her bleeding body disrupts the spectator’s passive gaze, eliciting ethical dilemmas and collective intervention. ORLAN’s Reincarnation of Sainte Orlan (1990–95) further interrogates the self as a fragmented, evolving entity through surgical performances that expose the interior as exterior. Meanwhile, Athey’s Acephalous Monster (2019) resurrects his controversial blood-letting practices, challenging societal taboos around HIV and mortality. Each of these works destabilizes traditional binaries—beauty/grotesque, sacred/profane, subject/object—creating a liminal space where the artist and audience merge in visceral communion.
The chapter argues that the abjection of blood in performance art is not solely an invocation of horror but an existential confrontation with shared human fragility. Through the intercorporeality of artist and viewer, bloody performance art enacts a form of radical empathy, dissolving boundaries between self and other. Ultimately, the study suggests that these performances, by rendering fragility visible, move beyond fear toward transformation and healing.