Beykoz Akademi Dergisi

Öz

Performance artist Marina Abramovic has been the center of attention in many disciplines, especially art, gender studies, cultural studies, and psychology, with her unique approach to the body. As an important representative of the "Body Art" movement, Abramovic has pushed the boundaries of the mind and body, both her own and those of the participants, through numerous performances in many countries, creating a new realm of bodily experience. The concept of the "body," one of the most crucial notions at the crossroads of Lacanian psychoanalysis and queer theory, gains new dimensions when examined in conjunction with Abramovic's approach, offering opportunities for novel studies on the experiential and conceptual relationship between existence, the body, and boundaries. French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, who posited that the human body is estranged from itself and organized by others through signifiers, emphasized that the body is embodied solely within the realm of the signifier through pleasure (jouissance) and is staged in the symbolic field. Judith Butler and Sara Ahmed, two prominent theorists of queer theory, contended that the body is not a cause but an effect, and that discursive construction processes and signifiers are the primary determinants shaping the body. Marina Abramovic's 1974 performance "Rhythm 0" is an important example of both Lacan's, Butler's and Ahmed'sideas about the body. 72 objects were used in the performance, and the manipulative actions of the participants on Abramovic's body clearly demonstrate the use of the body as a staging tool in performance art or in everyday life, as well as the violation of the body-boundary relationship. Abramovic's statement, "I am the object, the responsibility in this process belongs entirely to me," regarding the performance "Rhythm 0," shows that subjective and collective desires and fictions within the body-mind-boundary relationship pave the way for the creation of a new realm of bodily experience in a performative manner. In this article aims to convey and discuss Marina Abramovic's "Rhythm 0" performance, which involves the subjective and collective utilization of the body and the boundary, along with the concepts of body, boundary, and desire intersecting with Lacanian psychoanalysis and queer theory.