World of the Bizarre

Artist freed from marble block after 19 days

By T.K. Randall
December 1, 2017

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) The peculiar stunt, which ended up lasting a whopping 438 hours, saw Poppe live exclusively inside a courthouse in the Belgian coastal city of Ostend while chained to a large block of marble.

Each day, visitors could come and watch as the artist slowly chipped away at the block with a chisel. He also ate, slept, washed and drew while imprisoned inside the unique exhibit.Unfortunately however, despite his best efforts, he was ultimately unable to break free of the block and ended up having to be rescued by having the chain cut with a power tool.

"This block was symbolic of history, the history of art, which I am trying to free myself from," he said. "I discovered that this is not possible. It is burden which I must always carry."


Source: The Guardian

Tags: Mikes Poppe