About

Chris Burden first gained international attention in the 1970s as an influential and controversial figure in the West Coast body art, performance and conceptual art movements. Investigating the sociological dynamic of risk and physical vulnerability, he initially used his own body as material in provocative, sometimes shocking acts, aggressively confronting the artist/audience relationship and the art-making process.

Burden?s performance works were one part of a boundless career that also spanned sculpture, installation, public art and engineering feats—eluding classification and resisting …