Analysis: The Abramovic Effect

During the popular rise of Marina Abramovic in 2013 I authored a piece on behalf of Philip Levine, evaluating the role of digital comms in transmitting face to face performance art.

Since then, the popularity of “experiential” events has continued to grow, along with the realistic appeal of virtual reality technology.

The dichotomy between interactive and digital — seemingly to serve the same “immersive” purpose — is as prevalent as ever today.

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As an artist both within and exploring the field of performance art, a number of discernible patterns have become apparent to me. As I see it, the rise of performance art within popular culture — particularly in the last year — has been symptomatic of the general public’s disillusionment with conventional artistic mediums.

Establishments, organisations and museums are well aware of the dramatic shift undergone by art in recent decades. Most clearly, this has been demonstrated by the Tate, whose team have developed The Tate Modern Project , claiming: “Film, video, photography and performance have become more essential strands of artistic practice, and artists have embraced new technologies. Ambitious and imaginative installations are now pushing traditional gallery spaces to their limits”.

A great illustration of this innovation is the work of performance artist Marina Abramovic, whose rise and influence on contemporary culture over the last three to four years has been nothing less than dramatic. Seldom in recent memory has a performance artist exerted such notable influence and gained such notoriety in the mainstream.

From March to May 2010, Abramovic’s performance of The Artist Is Present in New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), offered visitors the opportunity to sit for indefinite periods of time to engage in periods of unbroken eye-contact with the artist. This highly sought-after performance underpinned the subsequent release of a 2012 documentary film, Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present. She has since exercised a marketing whirlwind by capitalising on her fame by broadcasting several surprising collaborations.

So why is this so important?

Firstly, one must consider the medium in question: ‘performance art’. For many, this art form is considered difficult to classify, and, unlike painting or sculpture, the practice is seldom recognised as a tangible or lucrative commodity.

Unlike the majority of more conventional art forms, whereby practitioners’ work can be sold for an agreed sum, human embodiments of performance cannot be collected, traded or stored.

One might then ask, if captured artefacts — such as limited edition photographs of a performance — manage to arouse any high stake punts on value? Probably not. For any rightful gallery owner, art buyer or straight-laced connoisseur, even a love of the performing arts has traditionally failed to yield long-term investment, and up until this year, performance art has remained obscure, and typified by independently funded ventures.

Against these odds, on July 10 2013 performance art was granted a wider, commercial audience. Here, we saw Abramovic join Jay-Z in a six-hour performance of his ‘Picasso Baby’ single at a New York gallery (open to public and fans).

This footage went viral on Vine and various other social media platforms, and later even re-mastered as the self-titled ‘A Performance Art Film’. In higher measure, Lady Gaga recently displayed her naked body as part of a promotional video alongside Abramovic. The video was used by Abramovic as a means to boost her Marina Abramovic Institute Kickstarter campaign. Not surprisingly, the project hit its target of $600,000, three days ahead of schedule.

It is wise to consider the unprecedented role of performance art among popular culture and its mass sway over public consciousness. Jay-Z, considered by many as a rap superstar (not to mention, the weight of his celebrity marriage to Beyoncé), demonstrates both influence and clout among the media, music, and associated industries. Likewise, Lady Gaga now openly fames herself as one of the biggest pop music and most iconic pop artists in recent history.

What is actually happening?

In spite of our ‘highly interactive’ lives, sustained by social media and hyper-connected telecommunications — it is likely that a primal need for humanistic interaction is quietly growing. I believe the attraction to more visceral experiences, and correspondingly, to performance stems from here. Likewise, public audiences now desire personal connections, both among themselves and with their creative icons. What is most fascinating, is that interactive involvement has actually become key to maintaining collective interest in art.

The “quick fix” factor.

When Abramovic sat in the MoMA for three months to meet each attendee’s gaze and enable an ‘authentic’ personal connection — it marked a cultural trend.

Paradoxically, one of the most effective tools for distributing performance art has become the web itself. A viewer’s desire to bridge the gap between themselves and their admired artist by means other than attending a performance itself, is something I like to call the ‘quick fix’ factor. After more than a decade of digital consumption, we as a generation now seek out immediate gratification from interactive performance that can be streamed live to our desktops. If a chosen artist does not satisfy this desire, we are quick to move to another that will.

The formation of new, interdisciplinary relationships, such as Abramovic’s broadcasted collaborations with pop stars Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, epitomise the impatience of the ‘quick fix’ viewer generation. Gone are the days of curating performance art to sensitively illustrate the substance, nuance and complexity of this form.

The media.

Modern marketing campaigns are also employing the power of (mediated) human intimacy, by synthesising interaction via live stream technology. Likewise, celebrities are recognising their audiences’ desire for a personal connection, demonstrating this in recent rhetoric and performance, mediated by a bank of digital press and media outlets. The big players — Jay-Z, Gaga, Madonna and others including Tilda Swinton — have grown “streetwise” (recall David Bowie in his prime) to the incumbent Zeitgeist.

The Abramovic Effect

So “What is the ‘Abramovic Effect’?” you might ask. It is a paradox within itself. On the one hand, it is the emerging desire to experience personal or sensual moments through performance art. On the other, it is the anonymous, digital medium broadcasting the phenomenon. Not surprisingly, performance art can now be harnessed by media campaigns designed to increase one’s fame. These events have the potential to reinforce impersonal, viral trends. As an artist, the duality of this phenomenon has been an interesting one, both to be admired and questioned.

What does this mean for performance art?

Though the sound of commercial performance art may sound horrific to some, it may draw a more positive trajectory for the medium in the future as a whole. Given the growth in popularity of ventures such as The Tate Modern Project and PunchDrunk’s The Drowned Man we begin to see a clear signifier of what society wants and needs.

The dichotomous blending of Performance Art and its various strands (live and life art) with digital art is a unique obstacle to overcome. For those artists — myself included — there is no better time than now to make a unique and large-scale impact with the medium we are working.