Marina Abramovic undertakes a range of actions that push her physical limits to an extreme and finally result in the transgression of bodily boundaries. She starts off with eating 1 kilo of honey, followed by the consumption of 1 litre of red wine. Then, she breaks the wine glass with her hand. Slowly, the actions became more violent, culminating in attempts of auto-mutilation, like cutting a five-pointed star into her stomach with a razor blade, an image that has become iconic in the history of performance art. Referring to various Christian themes and rituals of repentance, the live performance also includes that Abramovic is whipping herself until she eventually lies down on a cross made out of ice-blocks. While a heater is pointed towards her stomach, making the cut star bleed, the underside of her body is starting to freeze. However, after 30 minutes on the ice blocks, the artist is carried away by members of the audience, who cannot stand the situation any longer. At this point, it becomes rather clear that in ‘Thomas Lips’, Abramovic is not only threatening the integrity of her body and, thus, destabilizing the binary opposition between inside and outside, but is also questioning the distinction between public and performer. In the end, the members of the audience can no longer hide behind their passive status as observers, but are forced to take the decision to perform an action by their own.
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