Marina Abramović - Art or Absurdity?
Marina Abramović is a Serbian performance artist residing in New York. She is often called the "grandmother of performing arts" for her powerful, vulnerable shows. She likes to push herself to the absolute limit, both physically and mentally, in order to explore the possibilites of human consciousness.
The only way you can fully grasp her intensity is to watch her shows, but we'll settle for videos.
RHYTHM 0
In 1974, Abramović created Rhythm 0, in which she assigned herself to a passive role, while the audience were free to do anything to her. She placed 72 objects on a table that the public were allowed to use on her. Among them were a feather, a whip, oils, scissors, even a gun with a single bullet. For six hours Abramović allowed the audience to test the limits of her body and her actions. At first, they were reluctant to do anything to her. However, as time passed and she remained passive to any treatment, people began to act more aggressively. They cut up her clothes, chained her, took pictures, one even put aimed a loaded gun at her, though another took it away. For the whole time Abramović did not say a word, or give any indication that she was affected in any way. The performance revealed the true nature of humanity at large, what they would do when freed from social restrictions and norms.
After six hours, as planned, Abramović resumed her natural role, and started to walk towards the audience. Everyone ran away.
REST ENERGY
In 1976, after moving to Amsterdam, Abramović met Uway Laysiepen, otherwise known as Ulay, and they began collaborating. They mainly explored the ego and artist identity. They also referred to themself as one unit, known as "The Other", describing themselves as parts of a "two-headed body". One of their works was Rest Energy, recorded in 1980 in Amsterdam, where both balanced each other on opposite ends of a strung bow and arrow, with the arrow aimed at Abramović's heart. Later she said, "I was not in charge. In Rest Energy we actually held an arrow on the weight of our bodies, and the arrow is pointed right into my heart. We had two small microphones near our hearts, so we could hear our heartbeats. As our performance was progressing, heartbeats were becoming more and more intense, and though it lasted just four minutes and ten seconds, I’m telling you, for me it was forever. It was a performance about the complete and total trust."
IMPONDERABILIA
In Imponderabilia, Abramović and Ulay stood face to face, naked, at the entrance to a museum. The narrowness of the space forced visitors to squeeze through them, inevitably facing either Abramović or Ulay in the process. The emphasis is put not on their naked bodies but on the audience's reactions.
THE LOVERS, THE GREAT WALL WALK
After 12 years of being together, Abramović and Ulay decided to end their relationship and collaboration. They marked this seperation by walking from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China---Abramović from the Yellow Sea at the eastern end, Ulay from the Gobi Desert at the western end.
They met in the middle, after 90 days of walking, where they took each other by hand to say goodbye.
Ulay stated that the project symbolised the end of the magnetic relationship they had for 12 years, and also their first project that they carried out seperately. It was a tabula rasa of sorts---the end of their time together, but the beginning of two new seperate journeys. They both described the walk as an initiation of sorts---Abramović said that she felt free from ballast, while Ulay described himself as mingling past, present and future together, of being one with the Wall.
Skip to 59:27 to view their goodbye.
THE ARTIST IS PRESENT
In 2010, The Museum of Modern Art held a major retrospective and recreation of Abramović's work, the biggest performance art exhibition MoMA has ever seen. During the exhibition, Abramović performed "The Artist Is Present", a 736-hour-and-a-half silent piece where she sat, unmoving, in the museum's atrium while spectators were invited to sit opposite her. There was no talking, no touching, and no communication besides the convergence of energy between the two people.
Abramović's gaze had different impacts on different people---some burst into tears, others left feeling slightly dazed.
Ulay made a surprise appearance on the opening night, which led to a very emotional moment where the two reconciled their past in silence. This is one video you will not regret watching.
I'd like to use Marina Abramović as one of my artist influences for the AIP2 final project, because I love the vulnerability and magnitude she brings into each performance. She truly lives for her art, and is willing to put herself in danger in order to test the limits of the human body and consciousness. At times, her performances seem absurd---why would anyone want to risk her life just to illustrate a point? But to Abramović, it is not only about the message the audience obtains from it, but also about the experience itself---in Rest Energy, it is about the increased senses when harm is staring at you in the eye, in The Great Wall Walk, it's about finding your own paths and saying goodbye to old selfs. And that is what I want to emphasise in my final artwork---not the visible results, but the journey it takes to get there.