''Trans-Fixed'' was a 1974 performance by

Chris Burden Christopher Lee Burden (April 11, 1946 – May 10, 2015) was an American artist working in performance art, sculpture, and installation art. Burden became known in the 1970s for his performance art works, including ''Shoot (Burden), Shoot'' (1971) ...

in which he was crucified onto a

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is a small family car produced by the German company Volkswagen from 1938 to 2003. One of the most iconic cars in automotive history, the Beetle is noted for its distinctive shape. Its pr ...

Description

On April 23, 1974, performance artist

was crucified shirtless onto the back of a pale blue

. Burden stood on the car's rear bumper and leaned backwards. His attorney hammered two nails through his open palms into the roof. Three other assistants ran the engine and opened the garage door, which opened into an alley called Speedway in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...

. The assistants rolled the car out of the garage, where it ran while stationary for two minutes with the engine at full throttle. Fifteen of his friends were there, having been invited but not briefed on what to expect. Burden later displayed relics from the performance, including a plaque alongside the two nails.

Analysis and legacy

The performance was religiously charged in its reference to the

crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being crucifixion, nailed to a cross.The instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus f ...

. Burden himself was not Catholic. Interpretations of the piece include Burden atoning for outcry against his prior body art works, or giving commentary on the forgotten connection between the "people's car" built by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. Art historians did not know whether to classify it as shamanistic or male egotism. The performance artist

Marina Abramović Marina Abramović ( sr-Cyrl, Марина Абрамовић, ; born November 30, 1946) is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, the relationship between the performer and audience, the limit ...

sought to use the work in her ''

Seven Easy Pieces ''Seven Easy Pieces'' was a series of performances given by artist Marina Abramović in New York City at the Guggenheim Museum in November 2005. All performances were dedicated to Abramović's late friend Susan Sontag. Although the performanc ...

'' but Burden denied her permission. Dale Eisinger of ''Complex'' described ''Trans-Fixed'' as Burden's most captivating work in his 2013 list of the greatest performance art works.

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's " Joe the Lion" alludes to Burden's performance.

References

Bibliography

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Description

Analysis and legacy

References

Bibliography

Further reading