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In this written series “Women Who Metamorphosed Art: ” I want to deep dive into selected female artists who contributed to art history but are rarely renowned for doing so. As education and media often highlights the contributions of male artists and their works it’s time to educate ourselves on the equal importance of female artists as well. This week the focus is on Marina Abramović who stands as one of the most influential performance artists who never fails to prove that there are no limits to how much people can be explored and understood through art.
Abramović was born in Serbia in 1946 and grew up during the height of Yugoslavia, which she often points out as a key factor of her identity and manifests itself in her works. Arguably, a lot of Abramović’s works are centred around subconscious thoughts and emotions so naturally her childhood, her adulthood and even just human experiences come into play within all her concepts. Many people approach Abramović’s works with hesitation due to the sheer bizarreness of her pieces, but it is this unconventionality that defines Abramović as an artist and makes her works seem so unlike anything seen before.
Rest Energy, Marina Abramović and Ulay, 1980, Performance Piece via MOMA, New York
Part of the reason Abramović’s performance pieces are so revolutionary is because they often include herself as the main character/subject to which dangerous acts are committed. So, the dedication of possible self-trauma and such explicit exposure to both her body and mind shows an artist that truly believes in the power of performance art to share messages in order to go through with them. Abramović herself explained to MOMA that the power of performance art lies in the fact it is a real event being performed, there is no theatricality, it is just her in the moment doing something that cannot be recreated, which is an element of authenticity that art often loses through reproducibility. Furthermore, she explains that taking such incredible risks in her projects is what allows her to learn from herself and that in only doing things you enjoy you can never learn to change as a person. So, the commonality in all her pieces is this immense idea of human evolution and intuition which often creates catharsis when viewed and understood.
Rhythm 0, Marina Abramović, Originally performed 1974, recreated as seen above 2017, Table with 72 Objects and Slide Show of Original Performance, Dimensions Vary, via Tate, London
One of the most impressive works by Abramović is Rhythm 0 which is a performance piece that consisted of a table covered with seventy two items on a clean white tablecloth. The original performance took place in 1974 at Studio Morra in Naples whereby over the course of 6 hours guests could take any of the objects and do whatever they wanted with them upon Abramović who sat there as the subject the entire performance. The objects consisted of ordinary things such as lipstick, bandages, a pen and a book to actual weaponry such as a gun with bullets, scissors, spears and razors, thus a balance of both pleasure and pain. But, just as most of her pieces, there is the consistent element of risk of suffering and the idea that people could directly harm her that imposes a reevaluation of the audience’s ethics and approach to boundaries. This piece is now exhibited using just the items and a slideshow of the original performance and the interaction of the audience which creates a compromise between being able to view it now but not recreating it to the point where it loses its original value.
Of course I will note that other female performance artists such as Meret Oppenheim and Yoko Ono also have amazingly deep performance pieces such as Spring Feast and C ut Piece respectively, which both portray the cannibalistic human nature towards women. But, in the case of Marina Abramović it pushes every boundary to the point where reflection on our feelings is not implied but a given experience.
The reason I was so insistent on writing about Marina Abramović this week is because I’ve been looking into street photography from Eastern Europe when Yugoslavia was still a country. So, since Abramović essentially encompasses the notion of ‘Yugonostalgia’ and ‘Balkan Baroque’ in her pieces I was really interested in seeing how these are subtly hinted at in her work. To sum up, I think it is noteworthy to understand how when analysing female artists we do not only have to focus on their feminine aspects because their work is also a culmination of their backgrounds and childhood, and the way these affect their mentality becomes visible in their works.
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