PARIS — A French artist has spent a week in a hard place: a rock.

Abraham Poincheval emerged Wednesday from a 12-tonne limestone boulder at a Paris art gallery where he has been entombed since Feb. 22.

A body-shaped hole large enough to sit in was hollowed out inside the rock, and air entered through holes. Poincheval was supplied with water, soup and dried meat for the ordeal.

On Wednesday workmen pulled apart the two halves of the rock and Poincheval gingerly climbed out. He made a V-for-victory sign as two men helped him to a chair at the Palais de Tokyo gallery.

Poincheval specializes in endurance-testing solitary performances and once spent 13 days inside a hollowed-out bear.

His next performance will involve sitting on eggs in an attempt to hatch them.

The Associated Press