Dominatrix Who Mummified Man to Hollywood Sign Speaks Out

The Dominatrix behind Friday's viral makeover of the Hollywood Sign that saw a man in his underwear mummified and strapped to the landmark is speaking out.

New York City-based performing artist Sabine Tautou tells TMZ ... the stunt -- which ended up with her being detained and cited with trespassing -- took 3 weeks to plan.

And when the time came ... Sabine and the man she described as her "sub" had to act fast.

She says ... "I hiked up the mountain with the sub at 5:30 AM in the dark and waited at the top of the mountain until 10 AM, then jumped the fence with him and scaled down the steep cliff to get to the sign’s letters. It was much harder to climb to and from the sign on the cliffside than I had imagined, but we did it." 

As for the stunt itself ... that only lasted 25 minutes.

Sabine says ... "After I cut him down, we scaled back up the cliff to the fence that’s behind the sign where a ton of cops were waiting for us and had been yelling at us over loudspeakers. There was also a police helicopter above us tracking us."

Sabine -- who said she was eventually released by police -- revealed her performance art was all about sending a message about Hollywood.

She tells us ... "Hollywood is built around aspiration, fame, visibility and celebrity. Mummification does the opposite, it obscures the face, restricts movement and erases identity. Against this monument to being seen, I wanted him to appear anonymous and vulnerable."