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Chris Burden
Documentation of Selected Works, 1971–75, 1971
Courtesy of Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York
Museum purchase with funds provided through prior gift of Lois Outerbridge

In the 1970s Chris Burden became known for groundbreaking and often shocking conceptual performances that explored danger, pain, and physical risk, while sometimes confronting viewers and implicating them in the performance. This compilation video brings together the dramatic visual records of a number of Burden’s provocative early performances shot on Super 8, 16mm film, and half-inch video. Included is footage of the infamous Shoot (1971), in which Burden allowed himself to be shot in the arm; Bed Piece (1972), in which he stayed in bed in a gallery for twenty-two days; and Through the Night Softly (1973), which featured Burden, naked with arms tied behind his back, dragging himself over shards of broken glass. This compilation is narrated throughout by the artist with candid and revealing commentary about the performances and the extreme physical and psychological conditions explored by each work.