Contract With the Skin: Masochism, Performance Art, and the 1970's

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Summary: An amazing and insightful look at masochistic art practices!
Review: O'Dell's text is one of the few, and quite possibly the best, exploration into the often misunderstood "masochistic" art practices in 1970s America. Covering five artists (Vito Acconci, Ulay & Abramovic, Gina Pane, and Chris Burden), Contract With the Skin offers the reader thought-provoking ideas about what masochism in performance art REALLY means. (It's not about pain, per se.) Kathy O'Dell forces the reader to re-think their assumptions about art practice, and sheds new light on problematic subject matter.