Marina Abramovi GRANDMOTHER OF PERFORMANCE ART Biography Born

Marina Abramović GRANDMOTHER OF PERFORMANCE ART

Biography • Born in Belgrade, Serbia on November 30, 1946 • Attended Academy of Fine arts in Beldrade 1965 -70 • Attended Academy of Fine arts in Zagreb, Croatia, in 1972 • Taught at Academy of Fine arts at Novi Sad, where she began doing solo performances • Work focuses on body art, endurance art, and feminisim • Interested in physical limits of mind and body

ŒUVRE

Art Must Be Beautiful, Artist Must Be Beautiful (1975) In this performance, Marina brushes her hair while reciting “art must be beautiful, artist must be beautiful” until it appears that she is tormented by this activity and in physical pain. The message here, beauty is pain, is one that’s close to many people and the resulting work is as hard to watch as it is to look away. Women in media are expected to be beautiful, and artists are expected to be meaningful. Being both is incredibly taxing on a person, and this work represents that.

Rest Energy (1980) In this work Marina and her partner Ulay stand across from one another, both on either end of a loaded bow. Ulay holds the arrow and string while Marina is on the other side holding the midsection of the bow. The resulting pose is such that Ulay has every opportunity to let go willingly or out of fear or anxiety and end her life. The arrow in the scene is pointed directly at Marina’s heart and should either of them misstep she will die. This work is a commentary on energy and relationship. Both parties are dressed as though for work, and while this is their work, their office outfits stand out. In order for this relationship to work, energy must be balanced and although they’re afraid the only way through is out. This also, obviously, confronts mortality and mental endurance, which is a common theme for Marina.

The Artist is Present (2010) Marina’s most famous work, performed at the Museum of Modern Art in 2010, is one in which she did nothing for an excruciating amount of time. The artist sat in a chair across from an empty chair (at first with a table separating the two, but it was removed) and invited anyone that would like to sit across from her to do so in silence. For eight hours a day over the course of almost three months Marina sat and locked eyes with anyone who sat down. This eventually included her former partner, Ulay, which was a landmark artistic event that would make a hardened criminal shed a tear. Many of the people who sat across from Marina either cried, laughed, were visibly stressed or uncomfortable, but Marina stays almost expressionless until Ulay sits down. The most publicized performance art to date, and one of the best.

Marina and Ulay

Historical context Performance art wasn’t taken seriously when Marina discovered it as her mode of expression. Many people were engaging in performance art, but it wasn’t something that mainstream art industry members were interested in. Her following was mainly European until the last decade or so, and in 2010 the Museum of Modern Art held her exhibition “The Artist is Present” to great acclaim. This sort of propelled her into art stardom, and her work reached more people than it ever had before. Today she’s fondly known as “the Grandmother of performance art. ” Recently, Microsoft pulled an ad for their Holo. Lens 2 featuring Abramović because Alex Jones has claimed she is a Satanist. While Marina makes it clear she is not and never has been, controversy still surrounds her work.

Personal influence Marina’s troubled childhood and obsession with beauty and endurance are relatable and seizing to me. My version of expressing myself is often met with confusion or anger, and it dampens my light more often than not. What I see in Marina is the disregard for other peoples’ conspiracies, while still feeling the pain of it, but deciding to continue being who she has always been. Marina’s art inspires me to live a life less chained and more authentic. She’s taught me to listen and respond to the beat of modern life without allowing it to alter her essence.