Listening to the lyrics and energy behind the song Do What U Want made me think of Marina Abramovic's performance art piece Rhythm 0. Many of you already know Marina, having worked with Gaga recently on ARTPOP and having been a sort of mentor and inspiration to her, as can be seen in The Abramovic Method video. I wonder how much of an influence, if any, Rhythm 0 had on the making of this song, if it was in the back of Gaga’s mind, if she even made the connection herself (though I know she was specficially impacted by this piece). I can just picture a music video in which Gaga 'gives' her body to her audience to do with as they please, in a very Abramovic-performance-art-type way. I wanted to make this connection for Gaga and Marina fans, and I want Gaga fans who maybe know of Marina’s recent involvement with Gaga but don’t know much about Marina’s work to learn about it, to better understand, to uncover another layer. Here's some info about Rhythm 0: This piece was primarily a trust exercise, in which she told viewers she would not move for six hours no matter what they did to her. She placed 72 objects one could use in pleasing or destructive ways, ranging from flowers and a feather boa to a knife and a loaded pistol, on a table near her and invited the viewers to use them on her however they wanted. Initially, Abramović said, viewers were peaceful and timid, but it escalated to violence quickly. "The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation." This performance showed just how easy it is to dehumanize a person who doesn’t fight back, and is particularly powerful because it defies what we think we know about ourselves. I’m certain the no one reading this believes the people around him/her capable of doing such things to another human being, but this performance proves otherwise. #DoWhatUWant #DWUW #MarinaAbramovic #ARTPOP #performanceart