his week we are engaged in looking at both past and present – and in this thread, I am asking you to think about the contemporary artist Marina Abramovic – she is one of the most well known performance artists and I will share a few of her performances here. Some students will really appreciate her take on art history issues such as the portrait, the human body, etc – while others are bored, or unimpressed. First, we see her most famous production at the Museum of Modern Art in New York: How does this performance re-imagine the concept of the portrait?
Marina Abramovic Last Day May 31 2012 The Artist Is Present (9:24)
The magnetism aspect of the performance is evident from the shared human experience between Marina and the audience. For example, Abramovic utilizes time and vulnerability as powerful performance art tools to evoke an emotional response when she meets Ulay (ArteContemporaneo100 (2013). Like a portrait, the marina’s performance exhibits empathy traits with which the audience can identify and find attractive. It creates a vulnerability that enhances a personal and intimate experience of the act. Besides, the gender attribute of the performer contributed to the emotional response ad presence in the performance. The performance from the artists applies similar concepts in portraits. The audience engaged in the performance as intensely as their interactions with paintings or sculptures. When interacting with portraits, the audience allows themselves to enter into a realm that opens up one’s mind and consciousness. This element is evident in Abramovic’s interaction with each audience at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
