By Jasmina Tesanovic
allow myself to be emotional since Marina Abramovic, at the end of his lecture in Turin about his life work, was in tears.
I believed her every word she said, every tear she shed a lot of words, not too many tears. Not only that I believed her, but I identified with her, with her movements,. Serbian accent in perfect English vocabulary. Her globalized discourse, nomadism and all the people and places we had in common: imaginary and real. Even the differences brought me closer to her emotions and her work.
This World famous artist, who will next year have a big retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art is in impressive form: physical and intellectual. I've heard so much about her, gossip and artistic reviews I have followed her work in all these years, from the seventies in Belgrade when Belgrade was an important conceptual stage and I lived in Rome, and then in Italian pot where the art ideas and razresavale happening faster than real time. But in Turin, GAM (a renovated gallery of modern art), this graceful, sincere and emotional guru and performance bomb was not the person I expected. It was far more, far more alive and kicking. As if her powerful work is only a shadow of her powerful personality.
spoke of her childhood and early days as an artist. Spoke was about 12 years of love and work with Ulai, the Dutch artist, showed us how she went on after breaking up with him at the top of the Great Wall of China, abandoning performance art in a while. She showed us the musical performances that took place with the Yugoslav songs, songs from a country that does not exist.
Finally she ended her talk with a beautiful optimistic song by a young girl with the hope of a disintegration of the country that is modern Serbian.
She told us she does not like technology, she thinks people should use telepathy and not telephones, to sharpen the level of transcendental consciousness and spirituality. Her tool (among others) for art and knowledge as pain caused by hunger, thirst and exhaustion of the body to its limits and tried her hand reached transcendent. How very Balkan global!
All her work is centered on the body, her body which he had lived for the great challenges for all these years: cutting, beating, starvation, public exposure ... the dividing line between suhovnosti and trials is almost invisible, the way of life is death. An artist should be prepared to die and her own funeral, that the last performance of her life. Grandmother of performance art, as she calls herself, and now teaches all proud: she believes in transferring knowledge and enhancing young people to perform, to make contact between their bodies and emotions and the audience. Performance is not practicing as a theater, as a performer, either have it or not.
Therefore, Marina Abramovic bought the theater two hours north of Manhattan in Hudson, NY, intending to establish a non-profit organization, the Foundation for Preservation of Performance Art. Use the space to work, to develop ideas including video and post production, and a second property will be to house resident artists.
However her art may now look or sound in this technological posthuman era, her sharp and bright presence, her manifesto of art in which she exhorts artists to be humble and sincere servants of humanity, tells us that we should count on our grandmothers then they, like Marina, walk the Chinese wall, let their body cut by the audience, and live a year in the wilderness.
years ago, Marina Abramovic is a performance in Amsterdam where she took the place of a prostitute in the window and her prostitute in the gallery: she did it in order to identify with the harsh reality of that woman. To those who question the meaning of her art, I suggest that they do the same switch the places with the person you want to understand. For just one day.
in English
Marina in Turin
I will allow myself to be emotional since Marina Abramovic, at the end of her lecture Torino about her life work, was in tears.
I believed her: every word she said, every tear she shed. Many words, not too many tears. More than believing. I identified with her, her movements, her words, her Serbian accent onto perfect English vocabulary. Her globalized discourse, her nomadism and all the people and places we had in common: imaginary and real. Even the differences brought me closer to her emotions and her work.
This 63 year old world famous artist, who will next year have a big retrospective show in MOMA, a well deserved one, is in impressive shape: physical and intellectual. I've heard so much about her, gossip and artistic reviews. I have followed her work in all these years, from the seventies in Belgrade when Belgrade conceptual scene was hot and I lived in Rome, and then on the Italian conceptual melting pot where art ideas were happening and un-happening at the bigger speed than in real time. But in Torino at GAM, (a renovated gallery of modern art) this graceful, sincere and emotional guru and performance bomb, was not the person I expected. She was so much more, far more alive and kicking. As if her powerful work is only a shadow of her powerful personality.
She spoke of her childhood and early days as an artist. She spoked of her 12 year old love and work with Ulay, the Dutch artist; she showed us how she went on after breaking up with him on the top of the Great Wall of China, abandoning performance art for a while. She showed us musical performances that followed after with Yugoslav songs, songs from a country that does not exist.
Finally she ended her talk with a beautiful optimistic song sung by a young girl: in a down-ridden country that is modern Serbia.
She told us she doesn't not like technology, she thinks people should use telepathy and not telephones, to sharpen the levels of transcendental conscience and spirituality. Her famous tools ( among others) for art and knowledge are pain, self-inflicted hunger, thirst and exhaustion for trying the body, for reaching its limits and experiencing the transcendent. How very Balkanic global!
All her work is centered on body, her body which went through severe trials all these years: cutting, beating starving, public exposure... the dividing line between spirituality and trials is almost invisible, the path of living leads to death. An artist should be prepared to die and prepare her own funeral, that the last performance of her life. The grandmother of performance art, as she calls herself, today is teaching everywhere and proudly: she believes in transmitting knowledge and enhancing young people to perform, to make a contact between their bodies and emotions and those of the audience. Performance needs no rehearsal like theater,as a performer, either you have it or you don't..
For that purpose Marina Abramović purchased a theater two hours north of Manhattan in Hudson, NY, intending to establish the nonprofit organization, Marina Abramović Foundation for Preservation of Performance Art. She will use the space to work, to develop ideas by including video and post-production equipment, and as a second property to house resident artists.
However her art may look or sound today in this new technological posthuman era, her brisk and bright presence, her manifesto of art in which she exhorts artists to be humble and sincere, and servants of humanity, tell us that we should count on our grandmothers: especially when they, like Marina, walk the Chinese walls, let their body be cut by the audience, and live in the desert for a year.
Some years ago, Marina Abramovic made a performance in Amsterdam where she took the place of a prostitute in the window and had the prostitute took her place in the gallery: she did it to identify with the harsh reality of that woman. For those who doubt of the meaning of her art , I suggest that they do the same. Change your place with the person you want to understand. For just one day.
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