Saturday, March 13, 2010

Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present opening at MoMA


After attending art fairs and all that commercial activity the previous week, it was a great relief to attend the opening of Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present retrospective, organized by Klaus Biesenbach at MoMA this past week. It opens to the public today. The first thing I saw was Marina in the Marron Atrium at a small wooden table in a dramatic long red dress sitting across from anyone who would volunteer to sit opposite from her and stare into her soul. Everyone who participated seemed like they were visiting a goddess and truly moved by the experience. I saw a young girl walk away and wipe a tear away from her eye. Marina will be performing this work for several hours a day for a total of 700 hours during the run of the show. On the sixth floor there were fascinating live reperformances of Abramovic works by other performers amongst photographs, video, and the famous stage from her piece, The House With an Ocean View where she lived on a spare stage at Sean Kelly Gallery for several days in 2002 with an audience observing every move that she made. Abramovic's perseverance, focus and discipline (as well as the stamina of the people reenacting her pieces) is so moving that when you leave the show it almost feels like you're levitating...Photo: Renee Riccardo

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