Marina Abramović. Portrait with Flowers. 2009. Black-and-white gelatin silver print; photo: Marco Anelli. © 2010 Marina Abramović. Courtesy the artist and Sean Kelly Gallery/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, via MoMA
Marina Abramović has tested the limits of performance art by testing the physical and psychological limits of the human body. Acting as the primary object of her pieces, she has offered up her own body – her health, her safety, even her life – in the interest of innovative performance. Perhaps the most infamous piece was Rhythm 0, performed in 1974 in a Naples gallery. For this piece Abramović stood, passively, in front of an audience and allowed them to use, or inflict, on her any of 72 objects in whatever manner they chose. Some of the objects were benign and some were deadly. The most malignant of those included an axe, a saw, and a loaded gun. By the end of the 6-hour long piece, Abramović had been cut, undressed, and had the gun pointed to her head. In reflection, the artist had this to say: “The experience I learned was that…if you leave decisions to the public, you can be killed.” In her latest piece entitled “The Artist is Present”, on view now at MoMA, Marina Abramović tests the limits of her sanity. Seven days a week, during gallery hours, Abramović will sit silently and motionlessly at a table and stare into the eyes of whichever museum-goer sits at the opposite end of the table. She will do this every day for the next three months until her exhibit closes on May 31st.
For more information, visit the MoMA website or view the live video feed during museum hours.
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