Chris Burden obituary

Performance artist whose work attracted celebration and notoriety equallyThe American artist Chris Burden, who has died aged 69 from melanoma, outflanked the minimalism he encountered as a student by operating at an even more elementary level: using his own body as a metaphor for the social and political landscape. Among the ordeals he presented in his early performances were shooting, crucifixion, drowning, electrocution and kidnapping. In the era of emerging civil rights and opposition to the