Sleeping beauty: Tilda Swinton beds down in the name of art (again)

Tilda Swinton, artist and actress, sleeps in a glass box as part of an exhibition called "The Maybe" at the Serpentine Gallery in 1995

Tilda Swinton, arthouse film doyenne, blockbuster actress and sometime conceptual artist, has reprised her art exhibit The Maybe for the first time in almost two decades.

Wearing the same combination of light blue shirt and jeans as she did 18 years ago, Swinton was watched by hundreds of people while she slept in a glass box at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on Saturday.

Little has changed since the exhibit first appeared in 1995, with the notable exception of a pair of glasses next to Swinton on the mattress.

Arms crossed and lying on her side with her eyes closed, Swinton did little to amuse the crowds but is due to appear again on six further occasions this year – but the public will get no warning. A MoMA statement said: “Those who find it chance upon it for themselves, live and in real – shared – time.”

Equally well-known for roles in independent and mainstream films, she won her best supporting actress Oscar in 2008 for the legal drama Michael Clayton. Swinton first performed The Maybe at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 1995 (pictured above).