Abramović stood motionless in a room, offering herself to the audience as a passive object. Beside her was a table with and a sign with a simple, terrifying set of instructions:

The performance remains a warning. It suggests that civilization is not a fixed state—it is a fragile agreement. And under the right (or wrong) circumstances, most of us are capable of becoming the person holding the scissors, or worse, the person who simply turns away.