Abramović’s premise was deceptively simple. She stood still for six hours, offering herself as a "passive object" for the audience to interact with. Beside her was a table with , ranging from items of pleasure (a rose, honey, perfume) to items of pain and death (scissors, a scalpel, a whip, and a gun loaded with a single bullet ).
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Throughout, Abramović remained a blank face — no crying, no pleading, no smiling. She moved only when physically forced. By the end, she was bruised, bleeding, and trembling.
When the six hours ended, a gallery assistant announced the performance was over. Abramović slowly stood and began to walk toward the audience. They could not face her as a person. One participant later said, “I cannot forgive myself for what I did.”
Spectators began to use the "pain" objects. Her skin was slashed with razors, rose thorns were pressed into her stomach, and one man even drank the blood from a cut on her neck.
A sign posted near the table gave the audience clear, unrestricted permission:
