“To be a performance artist, you have to hate theatre. Theatre is fake…The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real” (O’Hagan, 2010).
The above quote comes from the mouth of Marina Abramovic, an idol in the world of Performance Art. Before studying this module, my interest of Performance Art was limited due to not coming across it as often as other performance types. It’s eccentricity and dedication seems to be too much for audiences who use theatre as a means for escape. It involves too much thinking, and therefore invites a specific audience that are comfortable with being involved in the performance. To some, this is ideal, however to others is too overwhelming. I also feel that Performance Art is not embraced in the same respect in England, particularly in comparrison with its appreciation in America. It is commonly unheard of to many which adds another aspect to putting people off.
I see Marina Abramovic an ideal performance artist to research in respect to her particular audience. In her forty+ year career, Abramovic says she has often dealt with “true reality” (O’Hagan, 2010) causing her both psychological and physical repercussions. She has stabbed herself in the hand with knives, lain naked on a cross of ice for a durational period and even allowed the public to prod, probe and abuse her body. Abramovic sees her audience to be as crucial to her performances as she is: “I test the limits of myself in order to transform myself. But I also take the energy from the audience and transform it. It goes back to them in a different way. A powerful performance will transform everyone in the room” (O’Hagan, 2010).
I often do not understand the physical extremities that Abramovic has put herself through, however her recent performance ‘The Artist is Present’ intrigued me with its difference to her earlier work. She describes this piece as “a pared-down, long durational piece that destroys the illusion of time” (O’Hagan, 2010). For seven hours a day, over the course of a month and a half, Abramovic sat on a wooden chair, mirroring anyone’s emotions who wish to sit opposite her. Though the performance is much less extreme than some of her work, the amount of psychological preporation required would have put enormous strain on Abramovic. “Physically, mentally, I have to prepare myself for a feat of endurance…I train the body and the mind. This is very hard: sleep, wake, drink, pee, exercise, sleep, wake and on and on. So even the not performing is intense” (O’Hagan, 2010).
Her family dynamic growing up was quite explosive. Her parents quarrelled constantly and Abramovic was often beaten by her Mother for supposedly showing off: “Everything in my childhood was about total sacrifice…This is why I have insane willpower. My body is now beginning to be falling apart but I will do it to the end. I don’t care. With me it is about whatever it takes” (O’Hagan, 2010). I propose Abramovic’s strict upbringing to have a large inpact on the extremity to much of her work.
Though looking purely at finished article of Abramovic’s work, she can be assumed crazy and her work perculiar, as true as this could be, she holds deep meaning behind each one of her performances in which she hopes others can relate too.
With specific relation to The Artist Is Present I am intrigued by the notion of ‘celebrity’. Abramovic herself is famously known and adored by thousands of people. With this in mind, the audience of The Artist Is Present were therefore largely art fanatics going more to experience being so close to Marina than to participate purely for the sake of the performance. It is her celebrity status that attracts so many people to her work to which I would be interested to see The Artist Is Present taken on by an unknown artist and whether someone unknown would receive the same response.
Works Cited
Abramovic, Marina. (2010). The Artist Is Present Official Trailer HBO. Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY3VwmiT3j4 Accessed: Sunday 10 February 2013.
Abramovic, Marina. (2012). Marina Abramovic: Last Day (May 31, 2012) The Artist Is Present. Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts66t9muFfQ Accessed: Sunday 10 February 2013.
O’Hagan, Sean. (2010). An Interview with Marina Abramovic. In: The Guardian, The Observer. Accessed: 27/01/13