The Agony of the Body Artist

A dispatch from 1975: Roger Ebert on conceptual artist Chris Burden’s ground-breaking and then-controversial performance piece at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art.

Published: May 25, 1975
Length: 8 minutes (2,130 words)

Roger Loves Chaz

A love letter:

“Wednesday, July 18, is the 20th anniversary of our marriage. How can I begin to tell you about Chaz? She fills my horizon, she is the great fact of my life, she has my love, she saved me from the fate of living out my life alone, which is where I seemed to be heading. If my cancer had come, and it would have, and Chaz had not been there with me, I can imagine a descent into lonely decrepitude. I was very sick. I might have vegetated in hopelessness. This woman never lost her love, and when it was necessary she forced me to want to live. She was always there believing I could do it, and her love was like a wind forcing me back from the grave.”

Published: Jul 17, 2012
Length: 12 minutes (3,029 words)

I met a character from Dickens

Published: Feb 5, 2010
Length: 35 minutes (8,754 words)

Nil by mouth

Published: Jan 6, 2010
Length: 7 minutes (1,855 words)

My Name is Roger, and I’m an alcoholic

Published: Aug 25, 2009
Length: 11 minutes (2,920 words)