Marina Abramovic is a performance artist who was born in 1946 in Belgrade. She has a postgraduate degree in painting, but the majority of her work involves performance art and interaction with the audience. She worked all over Europe and finally settled down in New York where her work is very appreciated. She is an intriguing person who is able to inspire crowds and to encourage people to think in a creative way. Her eccentricity, creativity and intelligence set her apart from other artists and she has achieved world fame.
Marina is an unusual woman who works both with celebrities as well as with regular students who wanted to learn the Abramovic method. Patience is her main characteristic, spirituality and great concentration. The road to success was not easy for her, but she managed to become an influential artist whose work is mostly appreciated in New York and in London. Her performance “The Artist Is Present” was a major success and it took place in MOMA. She was sitting in her chair and people would sit across the table facing her and there would be the exchange of energies between Marina and the guest. There were many emotions involved in this project and a documentary film was made about this event. “People came and sat in the chair, shared some moments of silence with the woman, and then moved on. Day after day she sat there, for 736 hours and 30 minutes in total: no breaks, no trips to the loo, no movement, no words” (Barnes). This was an extraordinary event and people were standing in line for their turn to sit across Marina. There was an exchange of energy and people would reveal their most intimate feelings. Some people would smile, the others would be happy, thoughtful and many people cried. I believe that the reason for that lies in the fact that these people were encouraged to show their real personalities and to open up in a moment of pure truth. Marina created an atmosphere full of tranquility and positivity which made the guests feel comfortable and happy to share such an intimate moment with her.
At the beginning of her career Marina did something unimaginable because it was dangerous. “In 1974, Marina Abramović did a terrifying experiment. At a gallery in her native Belgrade, Serbia, she laid out 72 items on a trestle table and invited the public to use them on her in any way they saw fit” (Brockes). One of the items was a gun and Marina was happy that she ended up alive. Throughout her whole career, she was pushing boundaries and she still is because she feels that she has so much energy. After New York, she chose London for her performance because she wanted to introduce spirituality in the capitalist society where the dominant concept is consumerism. “In England, art is a commodity and everything is so expensive. Do we need all these things? Can we do something only with energy?” (Barnes). Marina proved that energy is enough because at the end of the day people are spiritual beings who feel the need to be understood and taken care of. The experience of the audience is such that people feel like they are special and that somebody is interested to know how they feel. This allows them to get in touch with themselves and their true feelings. Marina says: “"You have to be in a state in which you are completely secure about your ability to create this kind of charismatic space” (Brockes).
Marina Abramovic chose her life path since early childhood when she lived with her strict parents and was taken care of by her grandmother who taught her about spirituality. Her parents were communists and they were very successful and her mother would occasionally destroy the art that Marina would create. However, her mother did not mind her affinity for drawing and painting.
The change in her life happened when she turned twenty-nive and was invited to a TV show in the Netherlands. “When I arrived at the airport in Amsterdam, I was met by another artist, a man named Ulay, who was to be my guide. We discovered that we had the same birthday and much more than that in common” (Popova). This was true love and soon she moved in with him in Amsterdam. Her mother disapproved of this, but there was nothing she could do because Marina was an adult by now. The years spent with Ulay shaped her artistic personality and she became the powerful artist she is today.
Marina believes that when a person does not have materialistic things, they have to resort to creativity which is why her art consists mostly of sharing energy. She has to be mentally and physically fit for her performances and her whole life is dedicated to art and to creating new concepts of conveying ideas. The point is to find the purpose in nothingness and the audience recognizes that. People trust Marina because she is so self-confident and knows what she is doing. She often uses her naked body as the instrument of art and there is nothing vulgar about it. Spirituality is the major concept in her work. In spite of that, she does enjoy designer clothes, especially Givenchy because of the quality of the materials. She is against all the taboos and she collaborates with pop artists as well, such as Lady Gaga and Jay Z. Marina is a fascinating person and I believe that it is a real adventure to attend her performances.
Works Cited
Barnes, Freire. "Marina Abramović interview: 'I see the artist as a servant'." Time Out 9 June 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2016. <http://www.timeout.com/london/art/marina-abramovic-interview-i-see-the-artist-as-a-servant>.
Brockes, Emma. "Performance artist Marina Abramović: 'I was ready to die'." The Guardian 12 May 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2016. <http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/may/12/marina-abramovic-ready-to-die-serpentine-gallery-512-hours>.
Popova, Maria. "Turning Trauma into Power: Marina Abramovic on How Her Harrowing Childhood Became the Raw Material for Her Art." . Web. 1 Mar. 2016. <https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/04/27/getting-there-marina-abramovic-interview/>.
