A clenched fist holds a large, sharp knife. The other hand lies exposed, fingers splayed across a sheet of paper. Pictured here is Marina Abramovic’s Rhythm 10, first performed at Melville College, Edinburgh in 1973 to an audience that included the artist Joseph Beuys. The concept was adapted from a Slavic drinking game, in which the player stabs the space between each finger, gradually picking up the pace. Abramovic’s variation involved ten knives, rather than one, as well as two large tape recorders that captured every groan when the knife missed its target. ‘Pretty soon I had gone through all ten knives’, the artist recalled, ‘the white paper was stained very impressively with my blood’.
© 2026 Marina Abramovic. Courtesy of the Marina Abramovic Archives/DACS.
In 1975, the influential performance artist Marina Abramovic (b.1946) left her home country of Yugoslavia for the Netherlands. She took with her a number of personal objects and artefacts, as well as a series of 39 photographs and their six accompanying text panels. These artworks document six of her pivotal early performance works known as the Rhythm series (1973–4). When Abramovic arrived in the Netherlands, she asked a friend to store the artworks in their cellar in Amsterdam, where they remained for around half a century.
Tate normally looks to obtain work that is in the best possible condition, as it has a legal duty to keep works in perpetuity. So, it was quite unusual that we opted to acquire these artworks despite their poor condition. Having been stored in a basement, stacked on top of one another and sometimes moved around, we found that photochemical reactions had distinctly yellowed the photographs. You can also see blister-like, mechanical damage, which is the result of a chemical reaction between the photographs, an adhesive and the metal plates they are stuck to. We could have asked for reprints to be made, or we could have retouched scuffs and abrasions in the conservation studio ourselves. But we have chosen not to follow either of these paths. These works, we feel, represent a moment in time. A sort of surrogate for her performance, they are available only in their analogue form.
Conservation work is performed on Marina Abramovic’s Rhythm 10 1973 in the conservation studio at Tate Britain
© 2026 Marina Abramovic. Courtesy of the Marina Abramovic Archives/DACS. Photo © Tate (Lucy Dawkins)
Conservation work is performed on Marina Abramovic’s Rhythm 5 1974 in the conservation studio at Tate Britain
© 2026 Marina Abramovic. Courtesy of the Marina Abramovic Archives/DACS. Photo © Tate (Lucy Dawkins)
The conservation work we have done on them has become an endurance exercise in itself. We had to work long days, channelling the spirit of Abramovic to get it done in time. Our process began with removing loose particulate soiling using a specialised museum vacuum. Then, we cleaned the surfaces with cosmetic sponges washed in deionised water, before drying them. Abrasions around the edges were laid down and consolidated with a methyl cellulose adhesive. Despite this, many scuffs and abrasions will still be evident when they go on display at Tate Modern. But this is part of the reason that these images are of particular interest. They have become a map of everything that has happened to them. These photographs are a relic of a live action, bringing the real-time performance into the gallery in a way that a reprint or digital copy could not. They bind that moment in time with the way that we read or experience that event now.
Six artworks from Marina Abramovic’s Rhythm series were purchased with funds provided by the European Collection Circle 2025 and go on display at the end of March.
Charity Fox is Paper Conservator, Tate Modern.
Jacqueline Moon is Conservation Manager, Paper & Photograph.
