Marina Abramović Made These People Cry

While looking through the Flickr of the MoMA exhibit, "The Artist Is Present", I noticed that a weird amount of people CRIED while taking their turn sitting across from the artist. Luckily, someone else took notice, and made an awesome tumblr about it. But  this still leaves us with the question: What's your damage, Marina Abramović ? Why do you make everyone cry?-

I have no idea what it is about Abramović's gaze that induces so many people to tears. The set-up, for those of you who haven't been, lends itself much more to a version of the laughing game than a crying one: the artist is seated at a table on the mezzanine level at MoMA, surrounded by a crowd of at least 100 spectators, who take their turn going up and silently sitting across from her.

How people keep from giggling I have no earthly idea. In fact, if I were to go up and sit across from her, I'm sure my reaction would be somewhat similar to this guy's:

Likewise, I don't understand how Marina herself keeps a straight face. It must have taken years of mastering her art in order to learn how to not laugh when seated across some of these people:

In fact, she probably put her head down to keep from giggling in this photo:

Also, the guy who came and sat across from her a staggering 11 times deserves some special recognition, as does his hair.

If you want to take a chance at sobbing/giggling, the exhibit runs through May 31st.

[Photos via Flickr]