She meditated in an embrace with a skeleton, carved a five-pointed star on her stomach with a knife, washed more than two tons of beef bones for hours… imperfection, expose your vulnerability?
She is one of the most famous performance artists in the world, her work can be called powerful, harsh, stunning — what kind of jokes are there? And yet, in a conversation with TED editor Helen Walters, Marina Abramovich suddenly started talking about the role of humor in her life. “Those who know my work are afraid to get to know me,” Marina laughs. — And when they recognize me, they begin to think that I’m funny. Combine both and the portrait will turn out to be more or less true.” She recalls her 2005 performance at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, during which she ate a kilo of honey, drank a liter of red wine, and flogged herself naked(1). “I licked honey,” says Marina, “and watched the man in front of me, who was feverishly writing something in a notebook. I thought: “What is he writing? We’ve only just begun!» Then I turned the spoon over and saw the price tag still on it: $9.99.”
Its magnetic influence on the public continues for many years. What is always striking about her is her absolute willingness to open up to everyone and not hide her vulnerability. For Abramovich, there is not even a choice — this is the only way she knows how to exist. “People usually try to show the best part of themselves and hide all their dirt. And my idea is to expose everything. People need to be honest with themselves and with others,” she says with conviction. “We are all imperfect – that’s okay. We all have problems, and that’s okay. It’s okay to cry and show your emotions.» Her famous performance at the MoMa Museum, when she sat for hundreds of hours, looking eye to eye with each of the long line of visitors, had a tremendous emotional impact on the participants (2).
Does she feel like she has mastered the art of being vulnerable? Marina shakes her head. “I have to work on it every day. I’ll never get used to performances.» Then he adds: “But every time I think about it, failure is a very important part of success. If you don’t know defeats, it means that you didn’t risk anything in particular or you are engaged in self-repetitions. And then you lose curiosity and vitality.” Feeding the vitality is the essence of her new venture, the Marina Abramovic Institute in New York. Students will learn to see the world through Marina’s eyes. “One of the important things I would like to practice with students is the ‘Don’t Hold Back Your Cry’ exercise. Cry. But cry in front of everyone.»
1. Lips of Thomas (1975/2005).
2. «In the presence of the artist» (2010).