An eager audience of spectators looked on as French artist Abraham Poincheval emerged from the centre of a 12-tonne rock at the Palais de Tokyo art museum in Paris on Tuesday. The artist had been entombed for a week in the custom-built stone, remaining in the same sitting position without moving for a whole seven days. Poincheval designed the rock himself so that he could sit upright while encased but also receive air, water and soup directly to his mouth regularly through several small openings in the stone. What was it like to be trapped in one position for an entire week? Poincheval had this to say about his unusual forced meditation experience.

The 44-year-old is no stranger to forcing himself to sit still in small spaces for long periods of time. Poincheval spent two weeks trapped inside a stuffed bear after some assistants sewed him shut. His next project involves him becoming a human hen - he will hatch eggs by sitting on them for weeks at a time.