Most of us are familiar with the tale of comedian Tommy Cooper collapsing and dying mid‑act, and many recognize Brandon Lee’s fatal shooting while filming The Crow. Yet, there’s a whole roster of performers who met their end during a show, spanning centuries and a wide array of venues. These 10 lesser known tragedies remind us that the final curtain can fall at any moment, whether from a sudden heart attack, a rogue animal, or an unexpected gunshot.

10 Lesser Known Performances That Ended in Tragedy

10 “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott

Arguably one of the most shocking on‑stage murders involved heavy‑metal guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. Barely two minutes into a Damageplan concert in Columbus, Ohio, on December 8, 2004, a deranged fan named Nathan Gale barged onto the stage and opened fire, striking Abbott squarely in the head.

Gale slipped in through a side entrance, aimed his weapon directly at the guitarist, and unleashed a hail of bullets. In the chaos, a road‑crew member, a club employee, and an audience patron also lost their lives.

Police quickly intervened; an officer shot Gale dead after he threatened a hostage onstage. Investigations later uncovered Gale’s troubled mental history and his belief that the band had stolen his songs.

9 Colonel Bruce Hampton

While not as violently graphic as the previous case, Colonel Bruce Hampton’s demise was equally unsettling for the audience. The veteran musician was celebrating his 70th birthday at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre on April 30, 2017, when he suddenly collapsed while performing “Turn on Your Lovelight.”

The rest of the band, assuming it was a theatrical gag, kept playing, even chuckling at what they thought was a staged stunt. When Hampton failed to rise, the realization that something was terribly wrong set in — a massive heart attack had struck him.

Photographer Michael Weintrob later recalled the eerie moment: “At first everyone thought he was messing around. But he was dying while everyone else was playing.”

8 Jon Erik‑Hexum

Actor Jon Erik‑Hexum’s untimely death is a grim reminder of how boredom can turn deadly. While filming a scene for the CBS series Cover Up in 1984, the 26‑year‑old was handed a .44 Magnum loaded with a single blank cartridge.

After a delay, Hexum began to spin the gun’s cylinder for sport, mimicking Russian roulette. Though the blank wasn’t aligned, a wad of paper was, and when he pressed the barrel to his head and pulled the trigger, the paper blasted through his skull, driving a bone fragment into his brain.

He survived on life support for several days but was declared brain‑dead within a week, marking a tragic end to a promising career.

7 Joe E. Ross

Best remembered for his role in Car 54, Where Are You?, Joe E. Ross met his end far from the television studio lights. In August 1982, while performing a modest show at a Van Nuys apartment‑building clubhouse, he suffered a fatal heart attack onstage.

Despite his age of 67 and a reputation for good health, Ross collapsed during the performance. He was rushed to a hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, leaving friends and family stunned.

Ross had remained active in the entertainment world and was a regular fixture at local club events, making his sudden passing all the more shocking to those who knew him.

6 Karl Wallenda

Acrobatic tightrope legend Karl Wallenda’s death was captured on film by a local news crew and witnessed by about 200 onlookers in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1978, he attempted a 120‑foot (60‑meter) high‑wire walk between two towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel.

High winds and improperly secured wires caused the 73‑year‑old to lose his balance and plunge to the ground, striking a parked taxi on the way down—a blow likely fatal on its own.

The tragic footage, though not widely circulated, has been shown on several outlets and remains a haunting reminder of the dangers inherent in high‑wire stunts.

5 Leonard Warren

Opera star Leonard Warren’s death was especially macabre because of the line he sang moments before collapsing. While performing Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino in March 1960, he delivered the lyric “… to die, a momentous thing.”

Some cast members recall hearing him gasp for breath or even mutter “Help me, help me!” before he fell silent. Regardless of the exact words, it was clear something was terribly wrong.

Stagehands rushed to his aid, but Warren was already dead, having suffered a fatal heart attack. His sudden loss forced producers to recast his role on short notice.

4 Gilbert Genesta

Magician Gilbert Genesta’s fatal mishap underscores the perils magicians sometimes face. In November 1930, the American escape artist attempted a water‑filled barrel escape in Frankfort, Kentucky, emulating Houdini’s famed stunt.

Unbeknownst to Genesta, the metal milk barrel he used had a small dent that restricted his movement. The impairment prevented him from escaping in time, and he was pulled from the stage unconscious but barely alive.

Despite a brief revival, he succumbed shortly thereafter. Ironically, his death only heightened public fascination with escape acts.

3 Thomas Macarte

Lion tamer Thomas Macarte met a grisly end on January 1872 in Bolton, United Kingdom. While inside a cage with five massive lions before an audience of roughly 500, the animals suddenly turned on him.

Macarte’s wife later claimed one of the lions had bitten his hand days earlier, and he confessed to feeling afraid of that particular lion despite his extensive experience. He had also been drinking alcohol beforehand to steady his nerves.

The exact cause—whether the lion’s aggression or Macarte’s impaired judgment—remains debated, but the result was a brutal mauling that ended his life.

2 Molière

The earliest entry on our list dates back to the 17th century. French playwright and actor Molière (Jean‑Baptiste Poquelin) collapsed onstage in February 1673 during a performance.

He suffered two coughing fits, insisting on continuing after the first. Shortly after, he collapsed again, this time bleeding heavily. He was taken home, where he died while awaiting the arrival of a third priest for last rites.

Legend has it that Molière wore green that night, spawning the superstition that the color brings bad luck to actors.

1 “Mr. Cummins”

Little is known about the man simply referred to as “Mr. Cummins,” who died onstage at Leeds Theatre in Hunslet in 1817. The tragedy occurred during a performance of The Tragedy of Jane Shore, where Cummins portrayed a husband forgiving his repentant wife.

After delivering his final line, Cummins abruptly fell to the floor and died, apparently from heart failure. Whether the attack was sudden or preceded by warning signs remains uncertain.

True to the theatrical maxim “the show must go on,” Cummins’ untimely demise has become a somber footnote in British theatre lore.

When it comes to the art of devouring the impossible, the top ten craziest performances push the boundaries of what a human stomach can handle. While most of us balk at a stray piece of gum, these daring individuals turned eating into a jaw‑dropping spectacle.

Top Ten Craziest Eating Feats in History

10 A Bible, a Torah, and a Quran

Although this piece leans more toward provocative art than a mere stunt, Abel Azcona’s infamous act of consuming three sacred texts stands as a monumental test of stamina. In his work titled “Eating” (or “La Ingesta” in Spanish) he methodically ingested a Bible, a Torah and a Quran, staging the performance once in Berlin in 2012 and again in Copenhagen in 2013. Each rendition stretched across roughly nine hours, punctuated by brief intermissions, and unfolded over several days.

The act was far from a simple culinary curiosity; it served as a biting critique of religious fundamentalism and inevitably attracted fierce backlash. The very venue that hosted Azcona’s performance later became the scene of tragedy in 2015, when the Krudttønden Museum in Copenhagen was attacked by Omar Abdel Hamid El‑Hussein. Two patrons were shot dead and several others wounded during an event featuring the controversial cartoonist Lars Vilks.

9 A Car

Born in Greece in 1934, Leon Samson carved a niche as a sideshow strongman who toured Queensland, Australia. His résumé boasts feats such as swallowing 22,000 razor blades over a decade, halving three one‑inch steel bars, and even allowing a car to roll over his body. In 1969 a wealthy businessman from Darwin wagered A$30,000 that Samson could not consume an entire four‑seater automobile.

Samson accepted the challenge and, over a four‑year span, methodically shredded and ingested roughly a pound and a half of the vehicle. By cutting the car into bite‑sized fragments he avoided having to chew raw metal, yet he ultimately succeeded in digesting enough to claim the prize. He later relocated to the United States, leaving the remainder of the car behind, but his victory was already cemented in sideshow lore.

8 Live Eels and Snakes

Perhaps the most legendary consumer of the bizarre was the 18th‑century French oddity Tarrare, a performer, soldier, spy and, according to some accounts, a potential cannibal. He possessed a prodigious appetite that let him ingest more than his own body weight in food while somehow maintaining a frail 100‑pound frame.

Little is documented about his early life, but it is believed he was expelled from his family home in Lyon because his parents could not afford to feed his insatiable hunger. By the age of thirteen he allegedly devoured a quarter of a bullock—roughly a hundred pounds of meat—yet remained visibly undernourished. He survived by begging and pilfering, eventually drifting to Paris in 1788 where he encountered Dr Baron Percy.

Under Percy’s observation, Tarrare displayed his uncanny capacities: he swallowed corks, flints, a pocket watch, and even a whole bushel of apples (including the bushel itself). Most astonishingly, he could ingest live eels and snakes without the need to bite them, turning his performances into a grotesque form of entertainment.

7 4 Pounds of Raw Cow Udders, 5 Pounds of Raw Beef, and 12 Tallow Candles

While labeling Charles Domery’s (also known as Domerz) feats as performance art may be a stretch, his story mirrors that of Tarrare in many uncanny ways. Both men lived in 18th‑century Europe, suffered from an extraordinary appetite, and served in opposing armies during the War of the First Coalition. Domery’s notoriety grew after he was captured by the British Navy and examined while imprisoned in Liverpool.

Born in Poland in 1778, Domery weighed barely a hundred pounds yet claimed to have devoured 170 cats in a single year, and he could consume up to five pounds of grass daily when other food was scarce. Seeking better rations, he enlisted, only to be captured and subjected to medical scrutiny. Prison doctors recorded that he ate four pounds of raw cow udders, five pounds of raw beef, and, to top it off, twelve tallow candles in one night—yet he never added a single pound to his weight.

After this episode Domery vanished from the historical record, but his legend endured. Even Charles Dickens referenced him in the periodical Household Words, writing: “A man like this, dining in public on the stage of Drury Lane, would draw much better than a mere tragedian.”

6 Nuts, in Order

The title of this entry may underplay the astonishing nature of Hadji Ali’s act. The Egyptian‑born magician could swallow roughly forty unshelled hazelnuts and a single almond, only to regurgitate the nuts one by one on cue. No matter when an audience member requested the almond, Ali could produce it instantly, showcasing an uncanny control over his digestive tract.

Ali’s repertoire extended far beyond nuts. He famously regurgitated coins, jewelry, and even a live goldfish—keeping the fish alive throughout the performance. Born in 1892, he rose to fame on the vaudeville circuit of Broadway during the Roaring Twenties. He also earned the nickname “water‑spouter” by swallowing up to a hundred glasses of water and expelling it in a continuous stream, a feat he replicated with flammable kerosene, igniting it to reduce a wooden castle prop to ash.

5 4,000 Light Bulbs

Todd Robbins, a magician, comedian and self‑described “self‑made freak,” has been dazzling audiences with his modern sideshow act since the 1980s. Born in Long Beach, California in 1958, Robbins emerged from a renaissance vaudeville movement in 1980s New York and trained under the legendary Melvin Burkhart, inheriting Burkhart’s infamous nostril‑nail prop after his death in 2001.

Robbins’ marquee achievement is his consumption of more than 4,000 light bulbs over the course of his career. He does not simply gulp them whole; instead, he chews the shattered glass pieces in front of a live audience before swallowing the entire contents, turning a mundane household object into a terrifying spectacle.

Beyond bulb‑eating, Robbins showcases a medley of oddities: he can drive a nail into his nostril, perform sword‑swallowing (though he does not ingest the blade, keeping it out of the list’s criteria), and pepper his routine with what he calls “light comedy,” delivering humor alongside horror.

4 25,000 Light Bulbs

If arithmetic holds, 25,000 eclipses 4,000, and thus Serbian stuntman Branco Crnogorac claims the crown for the most bizarre eater. Born in Apatin in 1931, Crnogorac built a career around devouring metal, tallying 25,000 light bulbs, roughly 12,000 forks, 2,000 spoons and about 2,600 plates among other objects.

After a six‑decade run, Crnogorac retired following a near‑fatal incident: he choked on a bicycle pedal while attempting to consume an entire bike in under three days. He survived the ordeal, leaving behind a legacy of astonishing metallic ingestion that secures his place near the top of this list.

3 18 Bicycles

Michael Lotito, better known as “Monsieur Mangetout” or “Mr. Eat‑All,” earned a Guinness World Record as the “Man with the Strangest Diet.” Born in Grenoble, France in 1950, Lotito was discovered in 1959 to possess an extraordinary ability to ingest up to two pounds of metal daily.

Medical examinations revealed he suffered from pica—a psychological craving for inedible substances—but his stomach lining was unusually thick and his gastric acid exceptionally potent, allowing him to digest heavy metallic objects without harm. Throughout his career he swallowed televisions, shopping carts, chandeliers and, most impressively, eighteen full‑size bicycles.

Lotito’s feats earned him a place in the annals of bizarre performance art, and his record‑breaking consumption of bicycles remains a testament to the limits of human digestion.

2 A Secret Message

Any list of extraordinary eaters would be incomplete without revisiting Tarrare’s full culinary saga. After dazzling Parisian pantomime audiences, the War of the First Coalition beckoned him to a different kind of stage: espionage.

General Alexandre de Beauharnais, intrigued by reports of Tarrare’s ability to safely ingest inedible items, tasked him with swallowing a wooden box containing a secret communiqué to test whether such a payload could pass through his body intact. The trial succeeded, and the message emerged unscathed.

Consequently, Tarrare was dispatched to Germany to deliver a second secret note to a captive French colonel. Unfortunately, his inability to speak German, combined with his incessant hunger and a distinctive odor, led to his immediate capture as a spy. After a brief period of torture, the Prussians realized the message was merely a test and returned him to the French, though the episode underscored the perils of using a voracious performer for covert operations.

1 A Cessna Light Aircraft

The man crowned with the world record for the “Strangest Diet” also claims a second spot on this roster. While his metal‑eating feats are already legendary, Michael Lotito’s ultimate triumph involved consuming an entire Cessna 150 light airplane.

Much like Leon Samson’s automobile endeavor, Lotito disassembled the aircraft into bite‑sized portions, lubricated his digestive tract with mineral oil and maintained ample hydration to aid digestion. Over a two‑year period he successfully ingested the whole plane, proving that even complex machinery can become a meal for a determined performer.

Lotito passed away in 2007 from natural causes, having never suffered any serious health complications from his extraordinary diet, cementing his legacy as a true pioneer of the bizarre culinary arts.

We all love rock concerts and stand-up comedy; going to live shows gives us a certain thrill that watching from home can’t compare. And celebrities have always fascinated the general public. Their politics, personality, or extreme behavior has often landed them in trouble. Sometimes the entertainer or the police take their job way too seriously. So seriously, in fact, the musician or comedian is hauled off stage in the middle of their act and brought to jail. It happens more often than you think. Here are ten times a celebrity was arrested because of their performance.

10 Marty Wayne 1946

In 1946, Marty Wayne was an up-and-coming comedian with a penchant for filthy jokes and pantomime. While performing in Philadelphia, Wayne was arrested. At the time, the newspaper wouldn’t quote the police; they reported that he was arrested “for his purple passages,” which would most likely be considered mild by today’s standards. The venue’s owners were fined, and Wayne spent six months in prison!

Wayne’s career never really took off after his release. However, Wayne may well have been the inspiration for other more famous entries on our list. Obscenity laws were stricter and more plentiful in Wayne’s time. Most likely, he would have had a longer and more successful career had he lived in modern times, much to the chagrin of comedy fans everywhere.^[1]

9 Marilyn Manson (2001)

While Manson was not stopped during the show, he was arrested immediately following a 2001 performance in Michigan. Allegedly while on stage, Manson rubbed his gentiles on a security guard’s head. Manson recalled the incident at a 2013 show in Detroit. He claimed that he almost went to jail for having sex with a man’s head, an embellished version of the event. Officially Manson was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery for spitting on security officer Joshua Keasler’s head and felony sexual misconduct charges for wrapping his legs around Keasler and “grinding” on him.

According to prosecutor David Gorcyca, “These acts are sexual and physical assaults on an unsuspecting individual whose job was to protect the performers” Eventually, the felony charge was dropped, but the misdemeanor stuck. Manson seemed unaffected by the incident in every possible way.^[2]

8 Richard Pryor 1974

1974 was a big year for Richard Pryor, Blazing Saddles premiered, which he co-wrote, and he was arrested following a live performance in Richmond, Virginia. By the mid-1970s, laws concerning obscenities had been overturned throughout most of the country, leading some to believe there was racial bias in the arrest. According to comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff, “All the words that are in Blazing Saddles are the same words that he got arrested for saying onstage.”

Whether or not that was the case, Pryor was arrested for breaking a “foul language” ordinance. The local newspaper quoted the police saying, “He was repeatedly told to clean up his act.” The comedian used unapproved language in his jokes, one of which he directed toward the Richmond Police Department. He was released on a $500 bond and was later forced to attend a hearing on the matter later. Pryor never “cleaned up his act.” In 2006, he was the first Mark Twain Prize for American Humor honoree presented at the Kennedy Center, a distinctive honor for one arrested for his sense of humor.^[3]

7 Janis Joplin 1969

As the first queen of rock ‘n’ roll, it’s not necessarily surprising that Janis Joplin spent a few nights in jail. The circumstances of this particular arrest, however, are classic Janis. On November 16, 1969, B.B. King opened for her at Curtis Hixon Hall in Tampa, Florida. The crowd of roughly 3,500 people was losing their minds by the time she got on stage. They ran into the aisles toward the stage and stood on top of each other for a better view. She was doing a slow, bluesy version of “Summertime” as police tried to escort people back to their seats.

Things got heated between the crowd and the cops, and Joplin noticed. She allegedly yelled, “Don’t f**k with those people” through the microphone. Her comment was enough to provoke Sgt. Ed Williams to get a warrant for Joplin’s arrest because of her “vulgar and indecent language.” Joplin continued to antagonize the Tampa Police force throughout her set, and by midnight, she was behind bars. She was released on bail within a few hours and continued to play shows with the same vigor until she died at 27.^[4]

6 George Carlin 1972

George Carlin had an outstanding comedic career that spanned over fifty years. Carlin was renowned for his vulgar yet well throughout jokes and had multiple run-ins with the law in his early days.

He appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows and countless live performances. Most memorable was his “Seven Words You Can’t Say” bit. While performing that act at the 1972 Milwaukee Summerfest, Carlin was arrested for “profanity,” despite obscenity laws being overturned throughout the country by the early 1970s. Officially charged with disorderly conduct, the charges were eventually dropped, and the judge ruled in favor of Carlin’s first amendment freedom of speech rights. Carlin remarked later that he had the last laugh on the topic. The arrest gave the comedian publicity that he just couldn’t buy and significantly impacted his career.^[5]

5 Bobby Brown 1989

Following a 1987 Beastie Boys concert, the people of Columbus, Ohio, passed an anti-lewdness ordinance. Early in 1989, R & B star Bobby Brown broke that ordinance during a live performance, to the surprise of no one. “My Prerogative” had just been released, and there was no way Brown wasn’t going to live up to the song’s name. He brought a woman from the crowd on stage with him during a rendition of the popular song and “simulated sexual intercourse” with her, according to Columbus Police.

Brown came off the stage for a break around 8:30 that night when the auditorium’s head of security arrested him. He was taken to the county jail and booked. However, he was able to pay a $652 fine and was released. Brown was only off stage for about 90 minutes before returning and finishing the show.^[6]

4 Axl Rose 1987

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose has had quite a few run-ins with the law over his storied career. In 1991, he allegedly coerced the crowd into a riot during a show in St. Louis. Rose was arrested after the fact and made to stand trial for his role in the Riverport Amphitheater Riot. Years before that, he had been arrested during another show.

In 1987, GNR was on tour for their debut album, Appetite for Destruction. The band arrived in Atlanta in late November; their performance was scheduled for the 22nd. Allegedly, Rose punched a Black police officer in the face and was arrested. The police stated that he could be released if he apologized to the officer, but Rose responded to this offer in his own way. He refused to apologize and said, “F**k you!” to the cops. He was arrested due to physical assault during the band’s performance.^[7]

3 Jim Morrison 1967

In December 1967, while performing in New Haven, Connecticut, Doors frontman Jim Morrison became the first rock star ever arrested mid-performance. The incident became famous after being written about in countless newspapers and magazines and even appearing in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic The Doors. As the story goes, Morrison was “making out” with some girl backstage before the show. The two were interrupted by a police officer who ordered the couple to leave. Morrison, of course, refused and was consequently maced by the officer. Shortly after that, the officer was informed that his victim was, in fact, the ultra-famous lead singer, Jim Morrison.

Later, during a “Back Door Man” performance, Morrison improvised altered lyrics to recount the events to the audience. He then sang derogatory slurs at the police, and that was literally the show-stopper. The police came on stage, stopped the performance, and arrested Morrison. He was charged with inciting a riot, indecency, and public obscenity. This would not be his first arrest, though. In 1969, he was arrested for lewd and lascivious behavior, indecent exposure, profanity, and drunkenness a few days after a concert in Miami, Florida.^[8]

2 Lenny Bruce 1961-1964

Lenny Bruce is arguably the most revered name in stand-up comedy; his wit, charm, and jokes were ahead of his time. He believed in himself and his ability to make people laugh, whether or not authorities thought he was funny or not. He is responsible for bringing first amendment rights to his craft, paving the way for others like George Carlin and Richard Pryor. Bruce was arrested many times for obscene and vulgar language throughout his career.

The first time was in 1961 in San Fransico. On this occasion, the police waited until after his set. However, on December 4, 1962, Bruce was performing his act at the Gates of Horn Club in Chicago when he made multiple jokes containing what was considered obscene. Phrases like “schmuck” or “c***sucker” came out of his mouth one too many times, and police stopped the show and hauled him off to jail.

Over five years, Bruce appeared in court in several states for his act. He was convicted on the Chicago charges and sentenced to four months in jail. Comedy clubs nationwide blacklisted him after his conviction. He spent years going through the appeal process, but he died of a drug overdose before it could be completed. He won his appeal posthumously and was pardoned. In 2003, Governor George Pataki of New York pardoned Bruce, calling the state’s first posthumous pardon “a declaration of New York’s commitment to upholding the First Amendment.”.^[9]

1 Dave Chappelle 2022

Dave Chappelle was never arrested during one of his shows. Quite the opposite. For our last entry, we’re turning the tables. On May 3, 2022, Dave was in the middle of his Netflix is a Joke festival set when a member of the audience at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Ang attacked him. Later identified as Isaiah Lee, the attacker jumped onto the stage and shoved Chappelle (not a small man) to the ground. The incident occurred as Chappelle attempted to exit the stage for a mid-set break. The police subdued Lee quickly, and he suffered “minor injuries.” He was brought to the hospital to treat his injuries and to be evaluated for mental illness. Lee was later charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon.

Police say Lee was found with a replica handgun that produces a knife blade when fired. Chappelle is one of the top stand-up comedians of the last decade and has become a household name. His brand of comedy has offended a lot of people over the years. There are many reasons someone might take offense to his act, and this wasn’t the only time he was assaulted on stage. According to TMZ, he was once the victim of a racial assault when an audience member threw a banana peel at him during a show in New Mexico. Despite all this, Chappelle has stayed at the top of his industry while giving back to his community.^[10]

Whether it’s done for the press or for personal growth, performance art can get out of hand. From graphic sexual acts to life-threatening violence, the most extreme examples tend to escape the art world and horrify the public at large. Here are 10 of the most notorious.

10. ‘100. Aktion’ by Hermann Kitsch (1998)

Part of the Vienna Actionist movement, Hermann Nitsch’s works are often bloody and deliberately shocking. Under the banner of his Orgiastic Mysteries Theatre, he’s enacted scenes of animal sacrifice and human torture, among other earthly delights. But his magnum opus was his six-day play of 1998. All of his earlier works were merely preparation.

‘100. Aktion’ (note: the above video is not this piece, but should give you a good idea of his art) was held at his own private castle, with its sprawling grounds, sweeping vineyards, and underground tunnels. Although 100 actors were involved, the “genuinely occurring events” of the play were “performed” by the audience (500-1,000 guests). As well as the actors, there were 180 musicians—including an orchestra, brass bands, and tavern bands—playing a specially composed 1,595-page score. A belfry housing five church bells was also built for the play. 

Supplies included 13,000 liters of wine (“to produce the intoxicated, unbridled joy demanded by the score”), 10,000 roses, 1,000 liters of blood, as well as dead pigs and sheep, 60 stretchers, over 10,000 meters of canvas (for the “painting actions” of the second day), and 5,000 torches for the night-time parades. There were also two military tanks brought in for the fifth day.

But the shock value of the piece was not just the excess. Three live bulls were also slaughtered in the play—one each on the first, third, and fifth days. The idea was to reveal what is hidden. Sourced from an abattoir, they would have been killed anyway. As Nitsch put it, “society killed the animals … not me.” In fact, this was the point of the six-day play, to lay bare the facts of existence—”from the sublimest feelings of happiness and ecstasy … to the deepest abysses, revulsion, the bestial destructive rage of the darkest inner urges.” (The six-day duration alludes to the Christian Creation.)

It wasn’t all symbolism, though. Asked why participants were sometimes bound and blindfolded, Nitsch simply replied that he likes it.

9. ‘Solo Kristos’ by Sebastian Horsley (2000)

Sebastian Horsley was a painter with a problem: he could only paint what he experienced for himself. At least, that’s how he rationalized his decision to get nailed to a cross in the Philippines; he wanted to paint the Crucifixion.

To get the experience, he traveled to the village of San Pedro Cutud, where for Holy Week each year young men are crucified with nails through the hands and feet. They’re not being punished or killed; it’s their way of feeling closer to God.

Horsley wasn’t the first foreigner to seek out crucifixion for himself. In fact, locals had already banned foreigners from participating after a Japanese man sold footage of his own crucifixion as sadomasochistic pornography. However, after much persuading—and a bribe—Horsley was allowed a relatively low-key session, to be documented by a photographer friend.

It didn’t end well. Passing out from the pain, he slumped forward, breaking the straps around his wrists and arms meant to support his weight and minimize damage from the nails. The platform supporting his feet had also fallen off. Horsley plummeted to the ground as villagers ran away screaming. It was, he said later, an act of a God he didn’t believe in.

Adding insult to injury was the reaction back home. Not only was the British press characteristically cruel, with headlines like “Art Freak Crucifies Himself”, but the art world was also dismissive.

8. ‘Dinner – Eating People’ by Zhu Yu (2000)

Chinese artist Zhu Yu, like Feng Boyi and Ai Weiwei, set out to shock as a political statement. ‘Dinner – Eating People’ was a series of photos showing Zhu procuring, cooking, and eating a six-month-old human fetus, all with a look of indifference. 

The photos are gruesome however you look at them but while the fetus is real, it’s by no means fresh. You can see it’s soaked in formalin. Even after cooking, he only pretended to bite it.

Once flushed out to the web, however, the photos lost all their context. People saw them as evidence of: a baby-eating trend that caused the coronavirus pandemic; a clandestine Taiwanese fetus kitchen; legalized aborted-fetus-eating in China; and so on. Apparently pleased with the results of his “experiment”, Zhu went on two years later to video himself negotiating with a prostitute to let him impregnate her, then to get an abortion so he could feed the fetus to a dog, which he appears to do later in the film.

7. ‘Seedbed’ by Vito Acconci (1972)

Every Wednesday and Saturday for three whole weeks, visitors to the Sonnabend Gallery in SoHo would be forgiven for thinking there was nothing going on. Room A was entirely empty. But as they descended the ramp into the room, Vito Acconci’s ‘Seedbed’ began.

“You’re pushing … down on my mouth,” came his voice from the speakers. “I’m pressing my eyes into your hair.”

Hidden beneath their feet, inside the ramp, the artist repeatedly masturbated. He used the sound of their movements to fuel his sexual fantasies, which he narrated into a microphone. Increasingly breathless (and graphic), he would climax with words like “I’ve done this for you, I’ve done this with you, I’ve done this to you…” Then he’d start again with the next person.

The Met Museum has called it “a seminal work.” According to them, the point was to “create an intimate connection between artist and audience, even as they remained invisible to one another.” Also… it was the ’70s.

6. ‘Resonate/Obliterate’ by Ron They (2011)

Ron Athey’s 50th birthday celebration was bound to be bloody. This is the queer performance artist known for self-mutilation and blood-letting. Drawing on his Pentecostal childhood and HIV-positive status, his work has involved scarifying, branding, stapling, penetrating, and hooking. As he puts it, he always plays “either with flesh or with fluid or blood” in his work.

And his 50th birthday was no different. Titled ‘Resonate/Obliterate’, the piece saw him doing yoga inside a glass box, naked but for a long blonde wig attached to his scalp using pins. Moving in time to a “futuristic soundtrack,” he aggressively brushed the fake hair. Then, piling it up high to reveal his face, he removed the pins, blood flowing out, “like Christ in a crown of thorns.”

Finally, Athey spread lubricant over his body, mixing with the blood, “plunged his fist into his rectum, and … triumphantly began to laugh.” After the show he got his blood sugar back up with some birthday cake.

5. ‘Untitled’ by Aliza Shvarts (2008)

Yale art student Aliza Shvarts gained instant notoriety in 2008 when news of her untitled senior thesis leaked off campus into the press. Using semen from donors (or “fabricators” as she called them), she repeatedly artificially inseminated herself between the ninth and fifteenth days of her menstrual cycles for a year. Then, on the twenty-eighth day of each cycle, she took herbal drugs to abort pregnancy. Although she was never sure she was actually pregnant, she experienced cramps and heavy bleeding as a result.

Collecting this blood, she planned a sculptural installation as part of her work; but once the Washington Post got wind of the story Yale entered damage control. The university banned the sculpture and lied to the press, claiming Shvarts had hoaxed the whole thing. She had, they said, never inseminated herself for the piece. Shvarts denied their denial and the story went viral online.

In retrospect she noted how, in the absence of any tangible elements (the sculpture, video, photos etc.), “the piece only exists as a narrative circulation.” As for the point of her artwork, it was meant to “open questions of material and discursive reproduction.” That it most certainly did.

4. ‘Untitled’ by Lai Thi Dieu Ha (2011)

Hanoi artist Lai Thi Dieu Ha gained notoriety for her performances exploring sexuality and taboos in Vietnam. As she put it, her work is “about the control of the government, cultural censorship.” In the Vietnamese press she’s the one who causes shock (gay soc).

In ‘Fly Up’ (Bay Len), she stripped naked and covered herself in glue and blue feathers before performing avian movements. This piece culminated with the release of a live bird from her mouth.

But it was her next work that drew the most attention. In this untitled piece, she took hot irons to a mass of pig bladders then rubbed them over her arms, legs, and face. She then pressed the irons against her arms, attaching the bladders and blistering her skin before peeling off the burned parts.

3. ‘Shoot’ by Chris Burden (1971)

Chris Burden was adamantly anti-war—specifically when it came to Vietnam. As a performance artist, he expressed his solidarity with victims through shocking acts of violence directed against himself. Examples include crucifixion to a Volkswagen Beetle, getting kicked down two flights of stairs, and confinement to a school locker with a bottle above to drink from and a bottle below to pee in. He also had an audience stick him with pins.

In the piece for which he’s best known, ‘Shoot’, he had a friend shoot him at close range with a rifle. Although at a gallery, only a few guests were present—all friends of the artist. But the moment was captured on Super-8 film. In the footage we see and hear the gun fire, the victim stumble forward, and the shell hit the ground. 

The gun was off target. The bullet was only supposed to graze his arm but instead it passed right through—forcing Burden and co to make a hasty trip to the hospital and leave staff in disbelief at the reason. Although he might not have thought so at the time, it was actually kind of better for the piece that it caused a real wound. After all, the intention was to challenge America’s desensitization to violence.

2. ‘Ham Cybele – Century Banquet’ by Ham Cybele (2012)

For a brief period on April 8, 2012, one tweet cut through the noise:

“[Please retweet] I am offering my male genitals (full penis, testes, scrotum) as a meal for 100,000 yen … Will prepare and cook as the buyer requests, at his chosen location.”

It went on to reassure readers of the quality of the meat—22 years old and free of disease, dysfunction, or hormone treatment. This was no bot. The tweeter was Tokyo artist Ham Cybele (HC) and this was a serious offer. In the past they’d had their nipples removed. The idea for this “testicle banquet” was to raise awareness of “asexual” (non-binary) rights. And while some tried to get the grisly meal canceled, it wasn’t against the law. Cannibalism is legal in Japan—just as it is in all US states except Idaho.

Five days after the tweet, five diners split the bill between them and, listening to a piano recital, watched HC sautée their own penis, testicles, and scrotum with button mushrooms and parsley. Having signed a waiver freeing the artist of any responsibility for adverse reactions, the diners tucked in. The verdict? Rubbery and tasteless. But that wasn’t the point.

1. ‘Rhythm 0’ by Marina Abramovic (1974)

Marina Abramovic’s ‘Rhythm 0’ gets the top spot on this list not because she went too far as the artist but, uniquely, that the public went too far as her audience. In fact, she was more shocked than anyone.

This could not be said of her earlier ‘Rhythm’ pieces. In ‘Rhythm 10’, for instance, she performed the old gangster party trick of rapidly stabbing a knife between her fingers on a table, not stopping until she had cut herself twenty times. In ‘Rhythm 5’, she leapt onto a flaming star-shaped platform, losing consciousness due to lack of oxygen, and had to be rescued by audience members. Then in Rhythms 2 and 4 she lost consciousness again, this time on purpose—first with drugs then with hyperventilation.

‘Rhythm 0’ was a different beast entirely. When the audience entered the space, they found Abramovic stood passively by a long table on which she had arranged 72 objects. Some were for pleasure (perfume, grapes, wine) and some were for pain (whip, needle, razor blades), while others were ambiguous or neutral (newspaper, paint, lipstick). Some objects, like the Band Aid, implicitly invited injuries. But the most shocking objects were the bullet and gun. The written instructions were simple: “There are 72 objects on the table that one can use on me as desired. I am the object. During this period I take full responsibility”

Abramovic’s work was all about testing her limits, but here she was testing her audience. She wanted to see how far they would go. At first they were playful. But they became more aggressive. “It was six hours of real horror,” she recalled. Someone cut her clothes. Someone stuck  thorns in her belly.

Another picked up a knife and cut her close to her neck, drinking the blood before applying the Band Aid. Someone even picked her up, by now half naked, and carried her round the room. Dumping her on the table, they stabbed the knife into the wood between her legs. Eventually, someone loaded the gun and aimed it at her head. They “put in my hand,” she remembered, “[to] see if I were pressing it, her hand against my hand, if I would resist.”

As with some of her other works, it took someone else to stop the piece for her. When the gallerist entered and said it was finished, Abramovic came to as if from a trance. Naked and bleeding with tears in her eyes, she walked through the audience and they all ran away; “literally [ran] out of the door.” When she returned to her hotel room that evening and looked at herself in the mirror, she saw a “really big piece of white hair.”