Marina Abramović

Rhythm 2, 1974
As an experiment testing whether a state of unconsciousness could be incorporated into a performance, Abramović devised a performance in two parts.
In the first part, she took a pill prescribed for catatonia, a condition in which a person’s muscles are immobilized and remain in a single position for hours at a time. Being completely healthy, Abramović's body reacted violently to the drug, experiencing seizures and uncontrollable movements for the first half of the performance. While lacking any control over her body movements, her mind was lucid, and she observed what was occurring.
Ten minutes after the effects of that drug had worn off, Abramović ingested another pill – this time one prescribed for aggressive and depressed people - which resulted in general immobility. Bodily she was present, yet mentally she was completely removed. (In fact, she has no memory of the lapsed time.)

Some of the institutions I have called have said that their residents are in various mental states, so probably not able to participate. Many elderly people are given catatonic drugs, to keep them quite therefore not making the staff's lives difficult. Also many are wrongly prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, which then creates a psychotic impulse upon the patient. All that aside, should you give up on an elderly person because they have psychosis, do they not have the right for more able people to try and make their lives which are probably lonely and frightening, a little more joyful and supportive?