The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind.
I think communication starts when words are not present at all ... I think we put so much emphasis on language, actually silence is so much more important.
Theatre is fake... The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real.
If we go for the easy way, then we never change.
We are always in the space in-between... all the spaces where you are not actually at home. You haven't arrived yet.... This is where our mind is the most open. We are alert, we are sensitive, and destiny can happen. We do not have any barriers and we are vulnerable. Vulnerability is important. It means we are completely alive and this is an extremely important space. This is for me the space from which my work generates.
Once, Picasso was asked what his paintings meant. He said, “Do you ever know what the birds are singing? You don’t. But you listen to them anyway.” So, sometimes with art, it is important just to look.
Because we never stop silently loving those who we once loved out loud
If you're a woman, it's almost impossible to establish a relationship. You're too much for everybody. It's too much. The woman always has to play this role of being fragile and dependent. And if you're not, they're fascinated by you, but only for a little while. And then they want to change you and crush you. And then they leave.
True love for whatever you are doing is the answer to everything.
I am only interested in the ideas that become obsessive and make me feel uneasy. The ideas that I'm afraid of.
The only thing I have learned is to find strength in yourself. No one can help you, no one can do anything for you, you have to do the work yourself.
Through performance, I found the possibility of establishing a dialogue with the audience through an exchange of energy, which tended to transform the energy itself. I could not produce a single work without the presence of the audience, because the audience gave me the energy to be able, through a specific action, to assimilate it and return it, to create a genuine field of energy.
When you have so much pain, you think you will lose consciousness. If you say to yourself, ‘So what, lose consciousness,’ the pain goes away.
But what is art other than revealing human nature?
The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation.
Time is an illusion. Time only exists when we think about the past and the future. Time doesn't exist in the present here and now.
People put so much effort into starting a relationship and so little effort into ending one.
Most people are more comfortable with what is familiar. I’ve spent my life doing the opposite.
I believe stories are very important to all performances. The life story of the performer shapes their work, and the life stories of the audience alter how they receive the work, what they read into the performer.
A great artist has to be ready to fail.
The most revolutionary ideas are not sellable, but only mind-changing.
Art comes from life, not from the studio
Your ego can become an obstacle to your work. If you start believing in your greatness, it is the death of your creativity.
I have found that long durational art is really the key to changing consciousness. On such a deep level. Not just the performer, but the one looking at it.
Happiness comes from the full understanding of your own being.
