Step into Marina Abramović’s shoes and experience her method: Voorlinden offers free admission to anyone who performs Counting the Rice for one full hour!
How it works
Dressed in a white lab coat and wearing noise-cancelling headphones, you take a seat in the collection exhibition Stillness in the storm. In front of you lies a pile of lentils and rice. For one hour, you will separate and count the grains. You will receive a sheet of paper and a pencil for this task. The performance is not about speed or results, but about attention and what happens to your thoughts and feelings during the counting.
Conditions
- You are at least 18 years old.
- You perform this piece for one hour – respectfully and according to the instructions of Marina Abramović; you fully focus on the task and remain silently counting for one hour.
- You receive a free admission ticket for the day on which you do the performance.
- You do not object to photography by other visitors.
- Only one person can perform the piece per hour.
reserve your timeslot
Marina Abramović, Counting the Rice, 2015
Collection museum Voorlinden, c/o Pictoright Amsterdam, 2025
Visiting the Museum
Your time slot also gives you access to the museum all day, open from 11 am to 5 pm. Are you coming with other people? Please note that the performance is done individually and in silence; no conversations or posing for photos are allowed. There is no waiting area in the exhibition space, but your companions are welcome to observe, explore the rest of the museum, or relax in the Voorlinden restaurant, open from 10.30 am to 6 pm.
About the performance Counting the Rice
‘In a world full of distractions, it’s a challenge to take the time to connect with ourselves and with others’, says Marina Abramović. That’s why she created Counting the Rice. In this performance, visitors are invited to spend an hour counting grains of rice and lentils while wearing noise-cancelling headphones. According to the performance artist, this exercise helps to develop endurance, focus, perception, self-control and willpower. It is a practice in silence – right in the middle of the museum and surrounded by others – that ultimately turns your attention inward. Those who persevere, Abramović says, may reach a sense of inner calm: ‘You are then in the moment, in the here and now.’