Internationationally recognized as a pioneer and key figure in performance art, the Yugoslavian-born (1946) Marina Abramovi? explores the physical and metnal pborders of human existence with her body. The exhibition?s 50 pieces follow Abramovi??s career over four decades with sound and video works, installations, photographs and performances. Additionally, the exhbiition includes a world premiere: Abramovi? will perform her newest performance in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The live performance is integrated in an installation reflecting the artist\s work. Abramovi? will spend over 700 hours during opening hours ? her longest solo performance ever ? seated silently at a table in the museum. Visitors are welcome to sit with her at the table for as long as they like and as long as the museum is open ? but she won?t respond! An exceptional experience with the artist and her work.
The exhibition ios divided into four sections. It begins with a focus on her early solo performances in Belgrade (1969-75). The second section displays her work with Ulay, including a video of the original performance of Rest Energy and photos of the Nightsea Crossing performances. The third focal point examines the period from 1995 to 2005 as she began a new chapter, with solo works about her culture, her ideological and spiritual origins in the Balkans, and about the feelings unleached by her nation and the wars of the nineties. The installation Balkan Baroque (1997), for which she received the Golden Lion Award for Best Artist at the Venice Biennale in 1997, shows a projection of life-sized pictures of her mother, herself, her father, a mountain of cowbones and copper containers filled with black water. The original performance consisted of the artist cleaning the bones of meat and flesh, four times for six hours apiece, to evoke the pain and suffering of war. The final section of the exhibition displayes her newest works created in New York, where the artist has been living since 2001.
Podium discussion:
June 2nd, 6:30 PM, Marina Abramovi? and the ?Reformers? discuss the experiences of participating in the performance at the MoMA exhibition. Moderation: Klaus Biesenbach.
MoMA: RETROSPECTIVE
March 14th until May 31st, 2010
Curated by Klaus Biesenbach,
Director, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, and Chief Curator at Large, The Museum of Modern Art
www.moma.org
