Would you say your work is about engineering those circumstances?

In my work I stage different ideas in front of the public and use the energy of the public. And I learn from this that pain is one of the biggest obstacles for us. We are afraid of suffering. All kinds of pain – emotional pain, physical pain. I say: If I can free myself from the chains of suffering, let’s see if you can too. My body is a tool. Performance is a tool. This is what art history is about – people confronting their fears, whether it’s through painting, literature or cinema. I use the body.

Do you feel like we’re living in an age where shock tactics have been pushed to the extreme? Or can things still be shocking?

People might say my work is shocking at first, but if they really think, they will understand the depth of it. I really think that sometimes the most shocking things are the simplest things, like purity of ideas. This is shocking. People get shocked when they don’t expect other people to be honest. My performance in The Artist Is Present was shocking to everybody because it was really about nothing. It’s about two people sitting in chairs looking at each other. It’s as simple as you can go.

Why was now the right time to write Walk Through Walls?

You need time to live your life and time to look back. Especially look back without anger. That was the moment I’d been waiting for. I wanted to register the last period of my life. When you reach 70 this is a serious age! And also to be inspirational; if I can get through all the stuff that’s happened in my life, I want other people to know they can get through theirs, too.

Turning 70, is there anything you’re afraid of?

I have to say that, at 70, having done everything I’ve done, I would never want to go back to my 20s. It was too much suffering. I’ve never felt better in my life than right now. I’m lucky that I’m healthy and that I feel good. I feel good about coming to the understanding that I have to go through this door of 70. I know I have to concentrate on only the things that are important. My legacy is important to me, my institute is important to me, and I think it’s important to do a few more performances, to work with young artists, and to give some statements that really matter to the world.

I must also prepare for dying. We ignore that we are going to die, we don’t want to deal with this. In the book I wrote how on my birthday I had the realisation I was going to die. And this feeling never left me. And so I always try to concentrate on the things that matter. And it matters to me to have fun. I have so much humour that only my friends know. You know, the Holiness the Dalai Lama said that if you use humour for the worst truths you reach a much deeper place. Humour is something that opens hearts and we have to learn much more humour in our lives. If we do that, we will look at the world around us and really see it for what it is.