Emerging on the American art scene in the early 1970s in the mist of the canonical heydays of conceptual and performance art, Chris Burden became known for a series of performances that involved exposing his body to various forms of violence and pain. He had himself shot in the arm and crawled bare-chested on broken glass. The latter work was shown on television in an advertising spot purchased by Burden. In the later years Burden has replaced his own body from the work with an involvement with large-scale mechanics and robotics, such as an elevating steamroller and a robotic machine that makes and spits out paper airplanes.

Image: Chris Burden, taken by Joshua White