Anyone stuck searching for the meaning of Tilda Swinton’s bizarre new exhibition at MoMA needn’t bother asking the actress herself because she won’t be giving you any clues. Tilda’s exhibit, entitled ‘The Maybe’ involves her sleeping (or at least appearing to sleep) in a glass box, at the Museum of Moden Art, from the time that the museum opens at 10:30am, to the time that it closes at 5pm. When she ‘performed’ the exhibit back in 2005, she told The Observer that “The meaning of the piece has nothing to do with me. It is entirely in the eye of the beholder.”

Some visitors to MoMA yesterday found that their eyes were not beholding much more than someone pretending to be asleep, however. New York Post reports that one disgruntled visitor said “She’s not asleep. She’s faking it. She’s an artist. Artists always fake it.” Some were more intrigued, though and Anne Marie Vaduva, 35, of Manhattan pondered “I think she’s in between. She’s in a state of self-induced trance.” Tilda had a glass of water in the box, from which she sipped sporadically but she was never seen leaving the box. In her Observer interview, she had attributed her ability to stay in the box to having a “strong and convenient bladder.”

The rest of Tilda’s performances in the box will not be scheduled but will take place unannounced. According to a MoMA spokesperson, around half a dozen will take place throughout 2013. 

Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton: very much awake here, visiting the V&A's David Bowie exhibition