Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present

Marina Abramović (Source: moma.org)

“Performance [has] never been a regular form of art, it’s been [an] alternative [form] since I was born. I want it really to be a real form of art in a respect, before I die.”

Serbian performance artist, Marina Abramović, 66, has been active in her career since the 1970s. Her works are direct, bold and sometimes violent. She tests the limits of the human body, often employing fasting, silence and inaction for prolonged periods of time. She challenges the audience because of the level of discomfort that may accompany viewership. Performance art uses time, space and sometimes other mediums to facilitate a relationship between the viewer and the performer. I had the opportunity to view the artist’s work during undergrad in New York back in 2010, when The Artist is Present was being exhibited at the MoMA.

From March 9-May 31, 2010, during MoMA’s regular hours, Marina was actually present in the museum. For seven and a half hours, six days a week, Marina sat motionless in a wooden chair in front of a table, while viewers rotated to the seat opposite her for a rare chance to be part of the exhibition and to get to bask in the artist’s energy. New York Magazine published an illustration speculating how the artist peed during her performance (theories included: bedpan, diaper and catheter). The conclusion, released in a followup article said that she holds it in.

A documentary (that shares the same name as the 2010 MoMA exhibition), Martina Abramović: The Artist is Present (2012) details Abramović’s life as an artist and explores the preparation required for the exhibition. She explains to a group of protégés who go on a training retreat in her house located in the Hudson Valley, that the most important aspect of being an artist, regardless of what kind of work you’re doing, is the state of mind in which you complete the work. The documentary also exposes a troubled side of Abromović as she recounts a loveless relationship with her mother who never kissed her “not to spoil” her and discusses how her mother would whip her in the middle of the night if her bed was not straight because she was “sleeping too messy.” The artist is largely influenced by Communist discipline and spirituality instilled from her grandmother’s upbringing (since her parents had political careers they did not have time for her).

To test the artist/viewer relationship, in Rhythm 0 (1974), Abramović allowed the audience to use a table of 72 objects in any way that they chose against her while she played a passive role. Objects included a rose, a gun, a single bullet and a pair of scissors. Initially audience members were tame and did not inflict bodily harm, but as the six hour show progressed, the audience began to act more aggressively and poked her with thrones, drew blood and even pointed the gun at her head.

In Rhythm 5 (1974), she leapt into a burning pentacle (after cutting her nails and hair and tossing them into the flames) and unbeknownst to viewers actually lost consciousness for a period of time due to the last of oxygen.

The artist also has a series of works with West German artist and friend/former lover Uwe Laysiepen (Ulay). The pair traveled, performed and lived together throughout Europe in a van. The couple separated, but remain friends. In Abramović’s manifesto she states that an artist should never love another artist. She also mentions that an artist should not steal another artist’s work.

Somewhat controversially on July 11, 2013, rapper Jay-Z performed his song “Picasso Baby” for six straight hours at New York City’s Pace Gallery. During the performance, Abramović gets onto the platform where he’s performing and gives him an emotionless glance, almost as if she’s saying “Yes, you are stealing what is mine, but I will lend it to you for now.” Jay-Z has recently come out and called himself a performance artist. You can have partial (okay, minuscule) ownership of the Nets, a clothing line, Beyonce, a record label, dinners with the Obamas, speculation of ties to the illuminati, a sports agency, a past dealing “rocks” on the streets of Brooklyn, but leave the performance art to Marina.