Marina Abramović

Marina Abramovic (1946, Belgrade, Serbia, ex-Yoguslavia) is the insurmountable figure in the field of performance. She studied at the Belgrade Academy of Fine Arts and started her artistic career in the early 70’s, when she abandoned the studio work and began using her body as theme, material and medium to produce art. Her body was exposed to pain, danger and exhaustion and, in mediation with the public, she placed herself at its disposal testing, in this way, the limit of both (artist and public), in the quest for an emotional and spiritual transformation. Between 1976 and 1988 she worked with her companion and artist Ulay (1943, Solingen, Germany – 2020, Ljubijana, Slovenia) and together they created a series of important works in the field of performance.

Abramovic received the Golden Lion award (together with Gerhard Richter) at the 1997 Venice Biennale and she was decorated with the medal of the Order of the Austrian Cross for her contribution to the world of art.

In 2010, Abramovic held her first and major retrospective to date, at the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MoMa) with the title The artist is present. During this exhibition, Marina Abramovic did a daily performance, in a total of 716 hours, in which she interacted with more than 1000 people. This exhibition was visited by circa 750,000 visitors. From here came the idea to create an institute dedicated to the study and practice of performance from the Abramovic method, the Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI), in Hudson, NY, USA.

She held various important international exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale (1976 and 1997); Documenta VI, VII and IX (1977, 1982 and 1992, respectively); Whitney Biennale (2004) and MoMa (2010).

From the beginning of her career, Marina Abramovic did a series of important and insurmountable works, a significant contribution to the Art History of the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

 

PS, December 2020