Marina Abramović is perhaps the most famous performance artist working today.

Employing duration, pain, danger, exhaustion, and viewer participation, she works at extremes as she complicates the relationship between art and audience.

Abramović exhibited at Documenta in 1977, 1982, and 1992 and at the Venice Biennale in 1976 and 1997, when she was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Artist. She received the prize for her video installation and performance Balkan Baroque (1997), in which she hand-washed 1,500 cattle bones.

Between 1976 and 1988, Abramović collaborated with German photographer and performance artist Ulay to create performances that undermined traditional gender binaries. In the years since, Abramović has worked independently, staging performances that increasingly demand viewer involvement.

In her famous 2010 Museum of Modern Art retrospective “The Artist Is Present,” visitors sat across from Abramović in silent communion.