Who is she?
Marina Abramović might be the most notable conceptual artist of our time. Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1946, she has been coined “the grandmother of performance art”. She started as a painter and now lives in New York. As Yugoslavia violently collapsed following a series of brutal wars and conflicts, Belgrade became the capital city of Serbia, the nation that remained. Known to stretch the limits of her body and mind via artistic exploits, many of her pieces involve masochism, with her enduring agony and exhaustion under the gaze of the viewing and sometimes a participating audience. She frequently uses self-injurious performances to express themes of tension and struggle.
Abramović worked as a professor and received an honorary doctorate from the Art Institute of Chicago. She has successfully bonded the gap between pop culture and modern art, collaborating with many high-profile celebrities. The controversial artist even had a feud with Jay-Z after Marina made claims to Spike Magazine that the rap star took advantage of her when he shot a music video during a performance at the MoMA, calling it a one-way collaboration because she was never compensated. In 1975, when Abramović moved to Amsterdam, she encountered fellow artist Uwe Laysiepen, nicknamed Ulay. Together they would live and collaborate for years. They lived an ascetic lifestyle to liberate the mind by material deprivation, residing in a Citroën police for almost a decade, they traveled the wild and deserts of the globe.
The couple’s tumultuous relationship was the subject of a lot of her work, where they regularly exhibited displays of emotional outbursts such as screaming or slapping each other for public viewing and interpretation.
Tradition versus evil
Some might consider her representation as being part of the occult. Others might say she is simply pressing the boundaries of human emotion. Marina plays with spiritual transformation to the extreme to probe an understanding of the human essence. Abramović is interested in Eastern mysticism and Buddhism.
Her cathartic acts contain religious and ritualistic elements, as well as fasting, trance-like states, self-harm, violence, and the macabre. It could be seen as something sinister- or perhaps a dark expression of a misjudged culture lost in translation.
The relationship between struggle and self-inflicted violence was developed from the strains of her childhood. Her parents were high-ranking officials in the socialist government and ruled the home with military discipline. Abramovic’s grandmother also raised her with strict Serbian Orthodox values. Her art addressed the realities of Yugoslavia under communist rule.
If nothing else, it is clear that she had a tale to be told.
What is performance art?
Performance art are pieces portrayed through physical actions presented by the artist and sometimes involving other participants. It can be exhibited live, spontaneous, recorded, or scripted staged through documentation, film, video, or photography. While the term became widely used in the 1970s when the need for self-discipline grew significant. The history of performance stems back to the cabarets of the 1910s. Movement and transience were seen as a non-traditional juxtaposition to the static permanence and stability of paintings and sculptures. The most memorable are usually quite daring, rebellious, and risky. Marina believed critics simply viewed performance art as an outrageous and exhibitionist method to get attention, but distinguished performance artists should test the taboo and the acceptable, challenging observers to question the world around us.
Rhythm 0
In Naples, 1974, Abramović would put on the table 72 objects including a rose, grapes, apples, honey, bread, wine, a flashlight, a black hat, a feather, perfume, scissors, a knife, scissors, nails, a metal bar, a whip, a scalpel, and a gun loaded with a single bullet.
She compromised herself also as an object, allowing the audience to do with her as they pleased, taking all responsibility for what was to occur for the next 6 hours, be it pleasure or pain.
The purpose was to learn about human nature and group thought once the burden of punishment and personal responsibility is lifted. In the beginning, people were kind and gentle with the opportunity. Eventually, they gave into their wild desires and became increasingly aggressive; some pierced her body, and one man even threatened her with the firearm, while she stood, as a lifeless puppet. Once Marina came out of her passive and submissive character, everyone quickly departed, to avoid confronting her human guise, and ultimately what the loss of control led them to do.
At the conclusion, she returned to her hotel room and noticed her first strand of white hair.
“What I learned was that… if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you.”
Balkan Baroque
Balkan Baroque was performed in 1997 as a metaphor for the Balkan wars. For days, upon hours Abramovic sits within a heep of 1,500 bloody beef bones, scrubbing each while singing folk songs from her childhood, in Venice summer heat. She also wept and spoke about life in Belgrade, sharing her thoughts on Serbia, as her dress becomes gradually more stained. Her labor was an homage to those who died in Yugoslavia and symbolizes the impossible task of cleaning away the carnage caused by combat.
Lips of Thomas
The documentation of The Lips of Thomas is filled with images of auto-mutilation. Again, using her body as a vehicle of expression Marina Abramovic pushes her physical limits by gorging on honey and red wine, shattering the wine glass with her hand, and carving a pentagram into her abdomen with a razor.
Lovers: The Great Wall (1988)
In 1980, Abramović and Ulay decided to tie the knot. To commemorate the duo planned to walk the entire length of the Great Wall of China, meet in the middle, never to separate. But things didn’t work out as proposed. While waiting over 8 years for permission from the Chinese government to visit the site, their union would unravel. Ulay had an affair with his interpreter, which resulted in her pregnancy.
He started from the Gobi Desert and she from the Yellow Sea. When they would meet, he gave her the unfortunate news, and after months of walking 2500 kilometers, the two convened only to end up saying goodbye. Abramović and Ulay decided to break up and went their separate ways.
Subsequently, Abramovic moved to New York and started on a new journey…
But it wasn’t the end of their story.
The Artist Is Present (2010)
This famous piece was performed in various locations around the world and included over a thousand participants. Abramovic sat while visitors opposite her had to look into her eyes, having a few minutes to allow a silent exchange of energy and emotional manifestations.
In NY, at the MoMA, Ulay would make a memorable and surprise return, appearing to gaze upon his ex-lover. He would sue her for money a few years later.
Where is she today?
In 2023, at the age of 76, Marina Abramović continues to inspire. Since 2010, she has been involved with workshops, conferences, and educating the future generation of artists. An ever-growing following of enthusiasts continues to appreciate and study her legendary body of work and political statements.
Marina Abramovic leaves a lasting impression, be it admiration or condemnation. Abramovic’s life and performances remain controversial, and she is solidified as a pioneer and an icon in contemporary performing arts.
“When people ask me where I am from, I never say Serbia. I always say I come from a country that no longer exists.” – Marina Abramovic
Discover more from Stay Up-to-Date on the Latest Art News with Gothamartnews.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Fantastic article ❤️