Editing Chris Burden (section)

=== Early performance art ===
Burden began to work in performance art in the early 1970s. He made a series of controversial performances in which the idea of personal danger as artistic expression was central. His first significant performance work, ''[[Five Day Locker Piece]]'' (1971), was created for his master's thesis at the University of California, Irvine,<ref name="Margalit Fox 2015"/> and involved his being locked in a locker for five days.<ref name=WorkEthic>[https://books.google.com/books?id=XcAGVtDLBpMC&dq=%22chris+burden%22+%22honest+labor%22&pg=PA115 Work Ethic], by Helen Anne Molesworth, M. Darsie Alexander, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Baltimore Museum of Art, Des Moines Art Center, Wexner Center for the Arts; published 2003 by [[Penn State Press]]</ref>

His 1973 work ''[[747 (performance art)|747]]'' involved the artist firing several pistol shots directly at a Boeing 747 passenger jet plane while it took off from Los Angeles International Airport.  The piece had a single witness, photographer Terry McDonnell, who filmed the act.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

His best-known work from that time is perhaps the 1971 performance piece ''[[Shoot (Burden)|Shoot]]'', in which he was shot in his left arm by an assistant from a distance of about {{convert|5|m|ft|spell=in|order=flip}} with a .22 rifle.<ref name=gagosian /><ref name=kastner>{{cite news |last=Kastner |first=Jeffrey |title=Gun Shy |date=January 1, 2005 |url=http://artforum.com/diary/id=8299 |work=Artforum |access-date=2007-02-17}}</ref>

Other performances from the 1970s included ''Deadman'' (1972), in which Burden lay on the ground covered with a canvas sheet and a set of road flares until bystanders assumed he was dead and called emergency services (leading to his arrest);<ref name=NYTimes1973>[https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/02/archives/he-got-shotfor-his-art-art-in-california-he-got-shotfor-his-art.html Art in California], in ''[[The New York Times]]'', published September 2, 1973; retrieved April 10, 2019</ref> ''Match Piece'' (1972) (also known as ''Match''),<ref name=NYTimes1973/> in which Burden launched lit matches at a naked woman lying between him and a set of two televisions in a room covered with butcher paper (1972);<ref>McMahon, Paul (October 12, 2010). [http://www.eastofborneo.org/articles/in-the-front-row-for-chris-burdens-emmatch-pieceem-1972 "In the Front Row for Chris Burden's Match Piece, 1972"], in the ''Pomona Daily Collegian'', archived at ''[[East of Borneo (magazine)|East of Borneo]]''; retrieved 2011-12-15</ref> ''B.C. Mexico'' (1973), in which he kayaked to a desolate beach in [[Baja Mexico]] where he lived for 11 days with no food and only water;<ref name=ArtNewsObit>[http://www.artnews.com/2015/05/10/chris-burden-has-died-at-69/ Chris Burden, Cornerstone of Performance Art, Has Died at 69], by Andrew Russeth, at [[ARTnews]]; published May 10, 2015; retrieved April 10, 2019</ref> ''Fire Roll'' (1973), in which he set a pair of pants on fire and then rolled on them to extinguish them;<ref name=Exeter>[http://siteworks.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/124 SiteWorks: San Francisco performance 1969-85 - Fire Roll], at the [[University of Exeter]]</ref><ref name=WaPoExtreme>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/review-chris-burden-extreme-measures/2013/12/19/d66d8b66-5c5b-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html Review: 'Chris Burden: Extreme Measures'], by Philip Kennicott, in [[The Washington Post]]; published December 19, 2013; retrieved April 10, 2019</ref> ''Prelude to 220, or 110'', in which he had himself bolted to a concrete floor by copper bands, next to two buckets of water that also contained live 110-volt wires;<ref name="make an ordeal">[https://www.villagevoice.com/1998/12/08/lets-make-an-ordeal/ Let's Make an Ordeal], by C. Carr, in ''[[The Village Voice]]''; published December 8, 1998; retrieved August 3, 2023</ref> ''Honest Labor'' (1979), in which he dug a large ditch;<ref name=WorkEthic/> ''Velvet Water'' (1974), in which he spent five minutes attempting to breathe water as a live audience watched;<ref name=Stillman>[https://eastofborneo.org/articles/do-you-believe-in-television-chris-burden-and-tv/ Do You Believe in Television? Chris Burden and TV], by Nick Stillman, at [[East of Borneo (magazine)|East of Borneo]]</ref> ''Do You Believe in Television'' (1976), in which he sent an audience to the third floor of a building — where television monitors showed them the ground floor — and then lit a fire on the ground floor (sources differ as to whether the monitors showed the fire, forcing the audience to realize that the screens represented reality,<ref name=Stillman/> or showed an intact ground floor, forcing them to realize that the screens ''did not'' represent reality);<ref name=PerformanceAnthology>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lu7KPDCfcXMC&dq=%22chris+burden%22+%22do+you+believe+in+television%22&pg=PA195 ''Performance Anthology''], p. 195; edited by Carl Loeffler; published 1989 by [[Last Gasp (publisher)|Last Gasp]]</ref> and ''TV Hijack'' (1972) wherein, during a live television interview to which he had brought his own camera crew, he held interviewer Phyllis Lutjeans at knifepoint and threatened to kill her if the station stopped live transmission (when asked about the incident in 2015, Lutjeans stated that Burden was a 'gentle soul', that she knew it was an art piece, and that the incident did not damage their pre-existing friendship);<ref name=Lutjeans>[https://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/2015/05/13/42817/rip-chris-burden-beloved-even-by-the-victim-in-tv/ RIP Chris Burden, beloved even by the 'victim' in 'TV Hi-Jack'], by John Rabe, at Southern California Public Radio; published May 13, 2015; retrieved April 10, 2019</ref> to conclude the piece, he demanded to be given the station's recording of the incident, which he then destroyed.<ref name=TVHijackMetMuseum>[https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/284248 TV Hijack. February 9, 1972], by Chris Burden, at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]; retrieved April 10, 2019</ref>

[[File:Chris_Burden's_"TV_Hijack".jpg|thumb|left|upright|Still from ''TV Hijack'', February 9, 1972, Channel 3 Cablevision, Irvine, California]]

One of Burden's most reproduced and cited pieces, ''[[Trans-Fixed]]'' took place on April 23, 1974, at Speedway Avenue in [[Venice, California]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Chris Burden|year=1995|publisher=Blocnotes Editions|isbn=2-910949-00-1|pages=131|author=Chris Burden|author-link=Chris Burden}}</ref> For this performance, Burden lay face up on a [[Volkswagen Beetle]] and had nails hammered into both of his hands, as if he were being crucified on the car. The car was pushed out of the garage and the engine revved for two minutes before being pushed back into the garage.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.virtualvenice.info/visual/burden.htm  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051025184955/http://www.virtualvenice.info/visual/burden.htm  | url-status = usurped  | archive-date = October 25, 2005  | title = Chris Burden at Virtual Venice | access-date = 6 August 2011}}</ref>

Later that year, Burden performed his piece ''White Light/White Heat'' at the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York City. For this work of experiment performance and self-inflicting danger, Burden spent twenty-two days lying on a triangular platform in the corner of the gallery. He was out of sight from all viewers and he could not see them either. According to Burden, he did not eat, talk, or come down the entire time.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.feldmangallery.com/pages/exhsolo/exhbur75.html |title=White Light/White Heat February 8 – March 1, 1975 |access-date=December 14, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125121933/http://www.feldmangallery.com/pages/exhsolo/exhbur75.html |archive-date=January 25, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Several of Burden's other performance pieces were considered controversial at the time: another "danger piece" was ''Doomed'' (1975), in which Burden lay motionless in a gallery at the [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago]] under a {{convert|5|x|8|ft|abbr=on}} slanted sheet of glass near a running wall clock.<ref>{{cite book|title=Chris Burden|year=1995|publisher=Blocnotes Editions|isbn=2-910949-00-1|pages=133|author=Chris Burden|author-link=Chris Burden}}</ref><ref name=Ebert>[https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/chris-burden-my-god-are-they-going-to-leave-me-here-to-die Chris Burden: "My God, are they going to leave me here to die?"], by [[Roger Ebert]]; originally published in the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', May 25, 1975; archived at RogerEbert.com; retrieved April 10, 2019</ref> Burden planned to remain in that position until a museum employee prioritized his well-being over the artistic integrity of the piece. After 40 hours, the museum staff consulted physicians. 5 hours and 10 minutes after that, museum employee Dennis O'Shea placed a pitcher of water within Burden's reach, at which point Burden rose, smashed the glass, and took a hammer to the clock, thus ending the piece.<ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/artworld/2007/05/14/070514craw_artworld_schjeldahl "Chris Burden and the limits of art,"] by Peter Schjeldahl. ''The New Yorker'', May 14, 2007.</ref>

By the end of the 1970s, Burden turned instead to vast engineered sculptural installations.<ref name="Margalit Fox 2015"/> In 1975, he created the fully operational ''B-Car'', a lightweight four-wheeled vehicle that he described as being "able to travel 100 miles per hour and achieve 100 [[Fuel efficiency|miles per gallon]]" ({{convert|100|mph|km/h|abbr=on|disp=out}} and {{convert|100|mpgus|km/L|abbr=on|disp=out}}).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/survival_kit/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517022651/http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/survival_kit/|url-status=dead|title=1996 review of Burden's MAK retrospective|archive-date=May 17, 2008}}</ref> Some of his other works from that period are ''DIECIMILA'' (1977), a facsimile of an Italian 10,000 [[Italian lira|Lira]] note, possibly the first fine art print that (like paper money) is printed on both sides of the paper; ''The Speed of Light Machine'' (1983), in which he reconstructed a scientific experiment with which to "see" the speed of light; and the installation ''C.B.T.V.'' (1977), a reconstruction of the first ever made [[Mechanical television]]. Burden was awarded a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]]<ref>{{Cite web
| url = https://www.gf.org/fellows/chris-burden/
| title =Chris Burden - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
| website = www.gf.org
| access-date = 2024-06-14
}}</ref> for Fine Arts in 1978. 

In 1978, he became a professor at [[University of California, Los Angeles]], a position from which he resigned in 2005 due to a controversy over the university's alleged mishandling of a student's classroom performance piece that echoed one of Burden's own performance pieces.<ref name=kastner /> Burden cited the performance in his letter of resignation, saying that the student should have been suspended during the investigation into whether school safety rules had been violated.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Seven Days in the Art World|author=Sarah Thornton|author-link=Sarah Thornton|date=2 November 2009|isbn=9780393337129|location=New York|oclc=489232834}}</ref> The performance allegedly involved a loaded gun, but authorities were unable to substantiate this.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jan-22-me-profs22-story.html|title=2 Artists Quit UCLA Over Gun Incident|first=Mike|last=Boehm|date=22 January 2005|access-date=26 January 2019|via=LA Times}}</ref>

In 1979, Burden first exhibited his notable ''Big Wheel'' exhibition at [[Rosamund Felsen Gallery]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.getty.edu/pacificstandardtime/explore-the-era/people/chris-burden/|title=Chris Burden»Pacific Standard Time at the Getty|website=Pacific Standard Time at the Getty|access-date=26 January 2019}}</ref> It was later exhibited in 2009 at the [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-nov-11-et-bigwheel11-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Susan | last=Carpenter | title=MOCA revs up Chris Burden's 'Big Wheel' | date=11 November 2009}}</ref>

In 1980, he produced ''The Atomic Alphabet'' – a giant, poster-sized hand-colored lithograph – and performed the text dressed in leather and punctuating each letter with an angry stomp.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://daddytypes.com/2009/06/06/chris_burdens_atomic_alphabet.php|title=Chris Burden's Atomic Alphabet – Daddy Types|website=daddytypes.com|access-date=26 January 2019}}</ref> Twenty editions of the work were produced and are largely in the possession of museums, including [[SFMOMA]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artwork/92 |title=SFMOMA |access-date=2012-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327221420/http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artwork/92 |archive-date=2014-03-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whitney.org/Education/Families|title=Families|website=whitney.org|access-date=26 January 2019}}</ref>

1988's ''Samson'' was a 100-ton [[hydraulic jack]] which was connected to a turnstile such that, with each guest who entered the Newport Harbor Art Museum, timbers were rammed into the museum's supporting walls,<ref name=Feared>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-14-me-2761-story.html It Was Feared That Samson Might Topple the Museum], by Cathy Curtis, at the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''; published May 14, 1988; retrieved October 8, 2018</ref> meaning that "if enough people entered the museum, it would collapse". The exhibit was forcibly disassembled by the local fire department after a complaint that it was blocking a [[fire exit]].<ref name=Shorn>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-24-ca-3272-story.html Museum Shorn of 'Samson' Exhibition], by Cathy Curtis, at the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''; published May 24, 1988; retrieved October 8, 2018</ref> In 2008, Burden reported having subsequently sold ''Samson'' to "a collector in Brazil".<ref name=SamsonVogue>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080530025739/http://www.mensvogue.com/arts/feature/articles/2008/06/burden Structural Integrity], by Eric Banks, in ''[[Men's Vogue]]'', June 2008; retrieved via [[archive.org]], April 23, 2019</ref>