Artist who had nine orgasms in public says Gen Z's sex lives are a 'disaster'

Artist Marina Abramović has branded the sex lives of Gen Z a 'disaster' in a damning observation on their intimate relationships.

Abramović has built a career for herself out of pushing boundaries as a performance artist, with notable works including the infamous 'Rhythm 0' experiment and 'Seven Easy Pieces', which saw her orgasm nine times in front of crowds at a New York museum while recreating Vito Acconci's 1972 piece ‘Seedbed’.

So it's pretty safe to say the 79-year-old isn't afraid of eliciting controversy with her performances.

And now the performance artist is concerned about the decline in people's tolerance for erotica, even going as far as to brand the sex lives of Gen Z a 'disaster'.

"I think it’s a disaster," she said of young people's reliance on pornography and refusal to be emotionally intimate in a new interview with Dazed magazine, following the premiere of her recent exhibition, 'Balkan Erotic Epic'.

Marina Abramović is concerned about younger generations wanting to be intimate (Jure Makovec / AFP via Getty Images)

"I see the younger generation who don’t have sex any more," she continued, seemingly placing the blame on how easily accessible graphic sexual content has become over the years.

"The young kids, their only knowledge of sex is pornography, through a screen… and they’re afraid to get emotionally involved, because they’re afraid to be hurt. But love and pain go so nicely together."

Abramović isn't the only person who's raised concerns about younger generations and avoidance of intimacy, with a recent study shared in The Guardian revealing that Gen Z were going through a 'sex recession'.

Meanwhile statistics published last September by erotic store Lovehoney revealed that Gen Z is having the least amount of sex per year when compared to older generations such as Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers.

Abramović is famous for pushing performance art to its limits, most famously with 'Rhythm 0' (Marina Abramović Institute/YouTube)

As for Abramović, her decision to push boundaries with her performances, sexual or not, comes from a desire to encourage people to confront their fears and provoke a strong reaction from audiences.

"I stage these situations to free myself from fear of pain but I need the energy of the public to do it. When you perform you are not poor, fragile little Marina, it’s your super-self, which can do anything," she said in a 2024 interview with The Times.

Pushing boundaries is something which Abramović has certainly achieved, because when she's not busy orgasming in public or allowing people to do 'anything they want' to her, she's passing out after leaping into burning stars or having people pass through a tight space flanked by two completely naked people.