Marina stood still, while 72 objects were laid out on a table in front of her and the audience was told that they could do whatever they wanted. The objects consisted of such things as honey, a rose, a feather, bread, grapes, and wine; as well as nails, a scalpel and a loaded gun. It started out quietly, with people doing things like throwing their arms in the air, but eventually people felt comfortable taking full control of her body. By the third hour, her clothes were cut from her body and people began cutting her skin. She stood there like a puppet as people began to stick thorns into her body, slit her throat, and drink her blood. Someone put a gun to her head and she was ready to die. After six hours, the gallery owner said the show was over and Marina got up and started walking towards the audience. They ran away, unable to face her as a person. Klaus Biesenbach, the curator of The Artist is Present, says: “It's like the Stanford experiment, right? It's a kind of scientific experiment that reveals human nature. But what is art if not revealing human nature?” He performed the work to see how far audiences would go. He maintained an interest in engaging the public in his art which continued with The Artist is Present. While the main exhibition is Marina, The Artist is Present relies on