Marina Abramovic
Marina Abramovic
Marina Abramovićis a Yugoslav performance artist based in New York. Her work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. Active for over three decades, Abramović has been described as the "grandmother of performance art." She pioneered a new notion of identity by bringing in the participation of observers, focusing on "confronting pain, blood, and physical limits of the body."...
NationalitySerbian
ProfessionPerformance Artist
Date of Birth30 November 1946
CountrySerbia
With classical ballet you are literally injuring yourself.
An artist has to look at the future, to see what we can do better.
There are so many rules in the art world. I don't like rules and I break them all the time. I don't care if people think I'm overexposed. What I care about is if I'm going to run out of energy. Overexposure is only a problem if you are drained of energy and cannot come up with new ideas. Every artist has to recognize that and know when to stop for a moment.
Today, our attention is less than the television advertisement. We're looking at six or seven problems constantly. We're living in the disturbed societies of cities. I think modern technology is one of the worst things human beings have invented.
I hate studio. For me, studio is a trap to overproduce and repeat yourself. It is a habit that leads to art pollution.
In every ancient culture, there are rituals to mortify the body as a way of understanding that the energy of the soul is indestructible.
I am very clear that I am not a feminist. It puts you into a category and I don't like that.
In my work I have complete control, but about my life, I don't want to.
I had so much fear of blood, and the first thing I did was to cut myself to see what happens. That's the only way to rebuild yourself.
When you have a nonverbal conversation with a total stranger, then he cant cover himself with words, he cant create a wall.
We always want to do things the way we like, that's why we never change.
Every party is the same, too many people, too little food, and you have to wait around. I'm extremely bored with parties.
Being an artist is not easy - I have always said that to the students I have taught over the years. It's a huge sacrifice.
I had to leave some traces. In the beginning, I would give complete instructions to the photographer. In the '70s, people would come to photograph your work and you would just end up with this crazy material that had nothing to do with your work; maybe I'd pick up two or three photographs that were the closest to the idea. This is why when you look at the '70s, you see much less documentation and really bad material. The material will become misleading to what the piece was.