Yugoslavia’s Performing Artist: Marina Abramovic

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ARTBLOC - 미술, 기술, 그리고 투자 : 네이버 블로그

Her powerful presence.

The country of Yugoslavia and performance art are both unfamiliar fields to us.

Who are you, Marina Abramovic?

Abramovich’s performances are as difficult as her name’s pronunciation. She uses a knife between her fingers as if playing a game of Russian roulette, or a razor blade to draw a star on her body. If you don’t understand her art, perhaps you will once hearing her childhood story. It was a time marked by sacrifices to religion and communism. Her grandfather was an Archbishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who was murdered by the king. Abramovic has described her parents as being violent, taking on a military style of raising her. Thus, her performances reflect the impact of growing up in this kind of environment. Her art drives the body and mind to the extreme, continually expressing her fear towards pain and death.

She began her artistry as a painter..

Unlike performance art which leaves behind no traces, or remains of a work, she had initial interests in painting. For young Abramovich, painting was her only refuge to escape from the violent family atmosphere growing up. When she saw white lines in the sky that were left by planes, she had the desire to “draw a picture in the sky”. After visiting a military base to carry out her wishes, the person in charge had called Abramovic’s dad, informing him that his child had a mental problem. She has since never painted again.

She thought about what could be done artistically besides painting. And the performance artist of the century was born when she realized she could become an art form herself.

As a controversial figure and a leading performer of the 21st century, let’s take a look at some of her most notable artworks.

Her first debut performance, “Rhythm 10”. She has laid out several knives in a row beside her, taking each blade and stabs it in between her fingers. She switches knives in the case that she accidentally stabs herself.

“Rhythm 0”. Abramovich stood still for 6 hours beside all sorts of tools, and the participants who passed by could do anything to her body using a tool of their choice.

Those who were hesitant at first became more and more extreme as time passed, scribbling, undressing, and stabbing the artist with rose thorns. Some even pointed the given knife and gun at her. After the promised 6 hours was over and she began to move, people fled the scene as fast as they could.

An indispensable name, Ulay

She meets Ulay, a German performance artist in 1976 by fate while travelling around the world. Although he is 3 years older, the two share the same birthday and soon became lovers. They began doing performances together that couldn’t be carried out without the other person.

“Two-headed body”

“Breathing In, Breathing Out” had consisted of breathing solely through the mouth. The work was an exploration of each individual’s absorbing, exchanging, and ultimate destroying process of the other person. After 17 minutes, the performance was stopped due to the excess carbon dioxide.

The arrow points at Abramovic’s heart, and could be deadly if their balance is slightly broken during “Rest Energy”. It cannot be carried out without each other’s complete trust and teamwork.

“Imponderabilia” consists of naked Ulay and Abramovic standing on the threshold, where visitors cannot pass through without having to face either one of them.

One can wonder what the two were thinking while walking 2,500 km on their final performance together entitled “Lovers”.

An artist doesn’t disappear over time..

“The Artist is Present”

After splitting from Ulay, she goes through a period of mindless wandering. But, in 2010 comes back to MOMA with a performance as an established solo artist. For “The Artist is Present”, she sat immobile for 7 hours a day, skipping meals and not using the restroom while viewers were invited to sit opposite to her for 1 minute. This piece went on for 3 months, 736 hours and 30 minutes, with a total of over 7000 spectators visited, including celebrities like Alan Rickman and James Franco.

The faces of participants.

What did they see in Abramovic’s eyes?

And then an unexpected surprise guest came: Ulay, who she hadn’t seen for over 22 years since their breakup. While Abramovich was making a name for herself in the art scene as a solo artist all those years, Ulay was going down the opposite journey full of drinking and drug abuse. This was the only moment throughout the performance when the rules of Abramovic not changing expression and moving were broken.

Tears fell down their faces the moment they met again.

Abramovich, who hadn’t moved until then, leaned forward, reaching for Ulay.

Their reunion after 22 years ended in just 1 minute. Neither of them said a word during the 1 minute, but so many stories were exchanged through their eye contact. Ulay left just as quickly as he came, and Abramovic sat there crying with both hands wrapped around her face. Regarding their encounter on this day, she has commented:

“My encounter with Ulay was not a performance, but my entire life itself, so I had to reach for him.”

The two first met in their 30s.

This video of their meeting had gone viral on YouTube and Facebook at one point. It’s difficult to imagine how complex their feelings must’ve been on this day. The two were both friends and lovers, working together as artists that understood each other best artistically.

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