What Is the Art Material Called in Marina Abramovic

At first glance, the work of Marina Abramović (Belgrade, 1946) would appear to accommodate to that hackneyed old saying that the best art is always about the self. Even so, every bit with so many other clichés well-nigh contemporary fine art, this serves but to limit the scope, richness and originality of this particular artist who, since solar day 1 over 4 decades ago, has made her own human being body into a vital space for experimentation, her raw materials and a battlefield, even. Abramović herself is, effectively, the work itself. But only in as much as one must and then incorporate this variable into a more complex equation, after pioneering reflection on the ultimate meaning of her performances which, after forty years of creative exploration, has consolidated her identify and her identity inside postmodern discourse.

Photo portrait of Marina Abramović by David Leyes

At first glance, the work of Marina Abramovi ć (Belgrade, 1946) would appear to adapt to that hackneyed old proverb that the best art is e'er about the self. All the same, equally with and so many other clichés about contemporary art, this serves only to limit the scope, richness and originality of this particular creative person who, since mean solar day one over 4 decades ago, has made her ain homo body into a vital space for experimentation, her raw materials and a battleground, even.

Photo portrait of Marina Abramović . Image available at world wide web.cronicasyversiones.com

Abramovićherself is, effectively, the work itself. But only in as much every bit i must and then incorporate this variable into a more complex equation, subsequently pioneering reflection on the ultimate significant of her performances which, later on forty years of creative exploration, has consolidated her place and her identity within postmodern soapbox.  As a class of visual art, of art as action,  her performances are both experiments  in trying to place and transgress limits of control over ane'south own trunk as well as, in regard to the human relationship between public and performer, searching questions about the taxonomic boundaries in traditional fine art, based on the split that exists between these 2: subject and object. If we empathize her torso as simultaneously both subject and medium, Abramović's experimental probing breaks away from the ideas of stasis and temporality inherent in our usual aesthetic understanding, and thereby expands the dialogical, structural boundaries of any piece of art.

 Still fromA Firm with the Sea View (2002). Epitome available at vimeo.com/72468884

The Serbian creative person'southward performances involve an immediate and emotional exchange of energy with the public, as she intends, making them that last piece of the equation without which the transformative feel of fine art would be incomplete and in vain. On this matter, she has commented: "I could never give a private performance at home considering I take no audience there [...] The bigger the audience, the ameliorate the performance and the more energy runs through the space. The audition should take an celebrated step and really connect with the object."

The artist is nowadays (2010). Image available from the Marina Abramović Institute website:www.mai.art

From the very beginning, Abramović's output has been daring, provocative and transgressive. She began her artistic studies in the mid threescore's in her birthplace of Belgrade, continued and finished them in Croatia, returning to teach Fine Fine art in Serbia in 1973.  Ever since her debut with the well-known Rhythm (1973/74) serial, framed every bit a bold, hazardous exploration of Torso Fine art, the immature Abramović was testing, on ane hand, the body's limits in the face of physical hurting, suffering, self-harm and, on the other, the moral resistance of the public to feel her world through those very personal experiences of her female person trunk. It was a work in, on and of her body.

Rhythm 2 (1974). Image available atmarinaabramovic.blogspot.com

The different variations of Rhythm used embodiment to reflect on universal themes such as decease, pain, sorrow, time, the limits of consciousness and unconsciousness, not to mention the behavioural patterns of the mind. Likewise, inRhythm 2, she experimented with the varying states of lucidity and loss of corporal command produced by the ingestion of a range of different pills.  In Rhythm 0, 1 of her most allegorical performances, Abramović literally put herself at the public'south disposition. Along with 72 different instruments of dissimilar uses - from pencil to polaroid camera to perfume as well as knives, whips, chains and a loaded gun - she offered up her body for a no-holds-barred, unscripted, interactive show with her public.

Rythm 0. Epitome available at www.upsocl.com

The visitors were invited to cull whatever object and apply it on her in whichever way seemed most interesting to them. And so began what was intended equally a reflection on trust and the social contract and ended upwards being a palpable demonstration of Homo's natural inclination towards violence. "What I learnt was that, if you allow the public to determine, they could kill yous. I felt really attacked: they cutting my dress off, they scraped rose thorns across my breadbasket, one person held the gun to my head before another took it off him."Abramović's  silence and lack of reaction meant that the violence escalated quickly and dramatically. "Later on exactly six hours, as planned I got up and started walking towards the public. They all scarpered, avoiding a real-life confrontation."

Rhythm 0 (1974). Image available at ourpursuitofart.blogspot.com

The subsequent evolution in Abramović'southward work owes much to her character trait of inclusivity and her willingness to be ever open to others. In a certain manner, it's in her nature to have infinite possibilities. As opposed to the unitary and bourgeois concept of one single artistic identity, namely the definition of the artist-individual focused on each work equally a solitary project,Abramović invariably challenges herself to build up emotional interactions with second parties and with herself as producer/director.

Proof of this came at the end of the lxx's when her artistic output centred effectually an unclassifiable dual manifestation of her art in productive and emotional conjunction with her lover, the German artist and photographer Uwe Laysiepen, better known equallyUlay. In a series entitled The Other, Abramović andUlay performed numerous performance works every bit a duo in which their bodies – always synchronised, dressed (or undressed) identically and with similar behavioural patterns – created additional ways in which to interact with the public.  Based on a professional and sentimental relationship of absolute trust, both liked to speak of an "adrogynous unity" whose actions personified the limits of interpersonal relationships, their effect on the "I", the ego and creative personae.  This is perfectly illustrated in Relation in Time (1977), one of their primeval articulation perfomances, where this hermaphroditic spousal relationship is symbolised past their tightly interwoven pilus.

Relation in Time (1977). Image available at pomeranz-drove.com

Their collaboration produced further and riskier (and indeed risqué) projects such as Imponderabilia (1977), where Abramović andUlay stood facing each other, completely unclothed, in a narrow passageway at the entrance to the museum, thereby obliging visitors to clasp between them and brush up confronting their naked bodies.

Imponderabilia (1977).Image available at delir-arte.blogspot.com

Another equally compelling articulationoperation was A-AAA (1978) where both artists shouted at each other in a firm-handed testify of power designed to determine who had the more dominant voice. Better known is Rest Energy (1980) in which the couple faced each other, stock still for hours, holding a bow between them and the pointer between Ulay's fingers aimed directly at Abramović's heart. The forcefulness and stamina required of both of them to maintain tension and preclude the arrow being shot was palpable. During the whole operation, microphones recorded both their heartbeats, both of them accelerated and agitated, a clear manifestation of a state of vulnerability in which responsibleness and control could slip from their fingers whatever second.

Rest Energy (1980). Paradigm available at www.altrevelocita.it

The "The Other" serial, equally much a passionate romance as an artistic collaboration, had as its symbolic finale the famous staging of 1988's The Lovers. Here too, their emotional and professional rupture was played out as a piece of work of art, portayed as a hike, each on their own, parting from reverse ends of the Smashing Wall Of Red china until meeting upward again in the heart. A three month long and solitary walk culminating in one last embrace. Information technology is an almost definitive  physical and communicational goodbye - information technology would be 23 years until they saw each  other again - and an attempt to phase the disintegration of their relationship by means of the physical and emotional fatique occasioned by a 2,000 km journey on pes. It could in some ways exist called a romantic ending: unclassifiable, unorthodox and emotionally charged with mysticism.

The Lovers (1988). Image available at http://inkultmagazine.com

With hindsight, Abramović'southward subsequent reinvention of herself every bit a solo creative person could exist defined as the crucial turning bespeak in her career. A certain fourth dimension lapse and, more importantly, long-altitude travels abroad, Brasil for instance, led to a creative resurgence during the 90'south that broke away, one time and for all, from the conscious assumption that her life and her art would exist inseparable from and fundamental to all her future productions. And and then, although the body would proceed to play an undeniable part, the performancesevolved into spaces destined for the liberation of her ain personal demons, underlying or otherwise, as well as new forms of performing equally a style to explore how we relate to reality.

An illustrative example, from the early 90'south, would be the object installations she herself defined under the umbrella term of Transitory Objects. By incorporating natural materials such equally semi-precious stones, bones and magnets into her actions, Abramović wasn't looking to give them a function of their own, as if they were sculptures. Rather, she was using them to generate experiences and energies, as if they were everyday life rituals. One has only to call up, from the initial stages of this 2d phase 1990 - 1994, the Dragon Caput series in which the creative person saturday stock still whilst various ravenous pythons, who hadn't eaten for ii weeks, slithered all over her body. It's an image of potent mythic-feminine resonance.

Recreation: Dragon Head (2010). Image available at mai.art

Even more striking,  given the eponymous violence of the time, was Balkan Bizarre (1997) which won the Gold King of beasts award at theVenice Biennale that same year, the Festival'due south highest prize. Expanding on the theme of the man skeleton, previously explored in Cleaning the Mirror (1995), Abramović used video installation to recreate the putrifying horror of armed conflict in the Balkans War. Likewise as projecting an image of her own parents on the walls, the artist positioned herself in the centre of the space, washing a huge pile of 1500 raw, bloodied veal bones whilst singing traditional folk songs from her childhood. The dramatic staging no doubt owed a lot to the conceptual baroque of her pattern but likewise lent it sincere and credible political weight.

Balkan Bizarre (1997). Image available atwww.tropism.it

Abramović's recognition as an artist has been irrefutable since the plough of the century.  Whilst, on the 1 mitt, it is true that her active participation in various works has become and so minimal every bit to be almost the mere fact of her being there, life and art for Abramović are intertwined as if an absolute presence, as if frozen in fourth dimension. It is from this angle that she seeks to lift the public'due south spirit, not and so much via straight emotional shock, performance surprise or Brechtian compromise simply rather through other more energy-giving mechanisms such as silence, meditation and ecstasy-like consciousness: "To create a type of artwork that is almost devoid of content merely still retains a kind of pure energy that will left the spectator'due south spirit", is how she described it in a 2008 Klaus Biesenbach interview.

In this regard, one inevitably thinks of the unforgettable The artist is nowadays, an exhausting performance piece presented in March 2010 on the occasion of a MoMa retrospective of her entire dorsum catalogue which remains, to appointment, the virtually important ever and, with more than than 50 exhibit pieces including performances, installations, videos, photographs and collaborations along with the subsequent documentary of the aforementioned name. For iii whole months, Abramović remained seated in the vestibule of the New York museum for over 700 hours (during opening hours and without a interruption) allowing over one,800 visitors, each in turn, one past one, to sit opposite her in total silence, separtated by just a table, and to share the imperturbable presence of the artist for as long as they considered necessary.

The artist is present (2010). Paradigm bachelor at www.filmswelike.com

Similar a challenge to time, similar a reflection on modern-day guild'south emotional alienation, the hit piece created an immediate connectedness betwixt artist and spectator - no verbal advice necessary -  and made the lack of advice betwixt one delicate trunk with some other, peculiarly in a neat urban center similar New York, fifty-fifty more than palpable.

In that location were also moments of utter surprise: after 23 years of separation, Ulay appeared out of the blue on the day of the inauguration. Abramović's middle visibly missed a crush on seeing him and he was the but one with whom she had whatsoever physical contact, afterward a brief chat using only their eyes.

The artist is present (2010), reunion with Ulay. Image available at www.visualnews.com

But at the same time, it is no less true that diversification of format and method have been a constant in Marina Abramović's life and works, aware equally she is of the increasingly global attain of what she has to offer and say. One need expect no further than her much-lauded collaboration with Robert Wilson in the experimental operaThe Life and Expiry of Marina Abramović which delved into the idea of her life's (and diverse deaths') leitmotifs as its narrative, with other cracking artists similar Antony, Willem Dafoe andWilson himself joing forces.

Marina Abramović and Antony in The Life and Decease of Marina Abramović. Epitome available at www.robertwilson.com

Equally a last thought, one might enquire oneself if, past focusing her most recent efforts on constant meta-reflection and revision of her prolific output, the authorisation of her artistic message has seen itself somewhat compromised by a worldwide success that has, unavoidably, transformed the scope, meaning and bear on of her performances. Can those same concepts and themes of twenty or 30 years ago still be conveyed today? Given recent changes in the manner artists communicate to us and the media and spaces now available to them, would it not be, rather, a instance of qualitatively distinct experiences?

Tedious-motion workshop, directed at the Whitworth Galley, Manchester (2009). Image available at passengerart.com

Fine art as action, live art made with the artists' own bodies is an artform belonging to a tradition predating simply not predicting the digital age that came with all its short-lived sensations and hyperinformation. Neither did  it anticipate a scenario of accented trivialisation or the lionisation of those other anonymous performers of the 21st century, on youtube for case. In any case, the conventional definition of performance as 'activity that happens within a limited fourth dimension frame' is in urgent need of revision. Mayhap the Marina Abramović Institue (MAI), inaugurated in 2015 in New York State, might take it upon itself to gather together a multidisciplinary call up-tank to review it and instruct places of collaborative and experimental fine art in society today with the Serbian creative person'south legacy equally a starting betoken.  The "grandmother ofperfomance", just turned seventy, has a lot of life left in her notwithstanding.

Publicity campaign for the Marina Abramovic Institute. Image bachelor at mai.art

 (Translated from the Spanish by Shauna Devlin)

 - Marina Abramovic: Biography, works and exhibitions -                                                                        - Alejandra de Argos -

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Source: https://www.alejandradeargos.com/index.php/en/all-articles/35-artists/41451-marina-abramovic-biography-works-and-exhibitions