Question 1

True or false: Marina Abramović was the first performance artist to win a Nobel Prize.

Accepted Answer

False. No performance artist has ever won a Nobel Prize. Abramović has received many accolades but not the Nobel.

Question 2

True or false: Marina Abramović was born in Zagreb, Croatia.

Accepted Answer

False. Marina Abramović was born in Belgrade, Serbia (then Yugoslavia), not Zagreb, Croatia. This is a common geographical confusion.

Question 3

True or false: In 'Rhythm 0', Marina Abramović placed 72 objects on a table and invited the public to use them on her however they wished.

Accepted Answer

True. This 1974 piece lasted six hours, with the audience escalating from gentle actions to cutting her clothes and holding a loaded gun to her head.

Question 4

True or false: Marina Abramović was a professor of performance art at Yale University for 15 years.

Accepted Answer

False. Abramović taught performance art for many years at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg, not at Yale. She has never held a professorship at Yale University.

Question 5

True or false: Abramović once lived in a glass cube for 12 days without food or water as an art piece.

Accepted Answer

False. She did live in a glass cube for 12 days in 'House with the Ocean View' (2002), but she had water and fasted only from solid food.

Question 6

True or false: Marina Abramović collaborated with Ulay on the performance 'The Great Wall Walk' in 1988.

Accepted Answer

True. Abramović and Ulay each walked 2,500 km from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China to meet in the middle, ending their artistic and personal partnership.

Question 7

True or false: Marina Abramović won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012 for her performance art.

Accepted Answer

False. Marina Abramović has never won a Nobel Prize. The 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Mo Yan. This statement is entirely fabricated.

Question 8

True or false: Marina Abramović once performed a piece where she sat silently for 736 hours at MoMA.

Accepted Answer

True. In 'The Artist Is Present' (2010), she sat for 736 hours total over three months, silently engaging with visitors.

Question 9

True or false: Marina Abramović's performance 'The Artist is Present' was held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Accepted Answer

False. 'The Artist is Present' took place at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 2010, not at the Guggenheim Museum.

Question 10

True or false: In 'Rhythm 0', Marina Abramović placed 72 objects on a table and allowed the audience to use them on her body.

Accepted Answer

True. In her 1974 performance 'Rhythm 0', Abramović invited the audience to use 72 objects on her, including a knife and a loaded gun. It was a radical test of trust.

Question 11

True or false: Marina Abramović was born in 1946 in Belgrade, which was then part of Yugoslavia.

Accepted Answer

True. Marina Abramović was born on November 30, 1946, in Belgrade, Serbia, then part of Yugoslavia. This is confirmed in official biographies.

Question 12

True or false: Marina Abramović and her partner Ulay ended their relationship by walking the Great Wall of China from opposite ends.

Accepted Answer

True. Their 1988 piece 'The Lovers' involved walking 2,500 km from each end of the wall to meet and say goodbye, ending both their relationship and collaboration.

Question 13

True or false: Marina Abramović's performance 'The Artist is Present' lasted a total of 736 hours and 30 minutes.

Accepted Answer

True. From March to May 2010 at MoMA, Abramović sat motionless for 736.5 hours across 75 days, making it one of the longest silent performances ever.

Question 14

True or false: Abramović once allowed a venomous snake to crawl over her body during a live performance.

Accepted Answer

False. This is a myth. She did use snakes in performances, but never venomous ones; safety was always a priority despite the extreme nature of her work.

Question 15

True or false: Marina Abramović collaborated with Lady Gaga on a performance piece called 'The Art of Seduction'.

Accepted Answer

False. No such collaboration exists. Lady Gaga met Marina Abramović and was inspired by her, but they never performed together publicly.

Question 16

True or false: Marina Abramović performed a piece where she and Ulay slapped each other repeatedly for over 17 minutes.

Accepted Answer

True. In 'Rest Energy' (1980), they held a bow and arrow aimed at her heart while leaning back, but the slapping piece is 'Light/Dark' (1977), where they alternated slaps.

Marina Abramović Trivia Questions