Tilda Swinton Makes Surprise Appearance in MoMA Art Performance “The Maybe”

Many still remember vividly Marina Abramovic’s performance at the MoMA a few years ago. Well, this weekend actress Tilda Swinton got her turn at making art history! The Academy Award-winning actress and recent Davide Bowie music video star made an unexpected appearance at New York’s Museum of Modern Art this weekend. Tilda’s live performance was unannounced, although the museum has actually been working on bringing “The Maybe” (originally staged by Swinton at London’s Serpentine Gallery in 1995) to New York for seven years now.

During the performance Tilda personified a contemporary “Sleeping Beauty” – dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt. Lying in a glass box, Tilda slept peacefully, all the while looked upon by a rapt crowd. The curator of this incredible show is Large Klaus Bisenbach, the same man who was behind the blockbuster retrospective on Abramovic. When museum-goers realized just who was displayed supine before them, the news exploded across the social media networks and there were countless tweets, including comedian Patton Oswalt’s new plan: “Tilda Swinton is sleeping in a glass box on random days at MoMA in New York all year. And I just thought of a brilliant heist movie…”

There was no publicity for this appearance, no artist’s statement released, no museum statement beyond this brief context, no public profile or image issued – just a lucky few, who happened to be there and caught TIlda in “action”! “The Maybe” will appear randomly in different locations this year.

Delphine de Causans was born and raised in Paris. After graduating from La Sorbonne University with a Masters Degree in Contemporary Art, she is now studying at Christies while working as a freelance art advisor and critic.