Marina Abramovic - an insane masochist or an artist?

Marina Abramovic - an artist. She creates art performances. Once you hear it - seems nothing special, nothing surprising but when I saw what art performances she creates - I was at a loss for words.

For instance, one of her most popular and famous art performance is 'Rhythm 0' in 1974.

At that time, how people saw artists was ridiculous, Marina was really tired of this kind of critics and she wanted to make a piece of how far the public can go if the artist himself doesn't do anything.

Marina placed 72 objects on the table, including a rose, perfume, piece of bread, grapes, wine, and then there were objects like a knife, scissors, metal bar, etc. And finally a pistol with one bullet. The instructions said: "I am the object, you can do whatever you want to do with me and I will take all responsibility for 6 hours".

"I knew that the audience can kill me but I really wanted to take this risk because I wanted to know what is the public about, what they are going to do in this situation".

In the beginning, the audience was timid: someone kissed her, someone hugged her, someone gave her a rose, but over time, the people watching her gained courage, they became wilder and started cutting her clothes, cutting her skin, undressing, drinking her blood, carrying her around, putting her on the table and one person even cut her in the neck with a knife. They despised her, and she stood still, with no reaction. After the 6-hour art performance was over, Marina said, "I'm finally a human again." The strangest thing is that when the time was up, all the people involved just ran away because they felt ashamed…

Marina, in her artwork, wanted to show how cruel and toxic society is, what it can do to you when it gets power in its hands.

"House with the Ocean View"

She spent 12 days in the gallery not drinking anything but water and without food. There were 3 units: a room with a bench (where she was sleeping), a sitting unit: with a table, and a chair. Finally: a toilet and a shower. The artist wanted to remind people of their vulnerability.

Marina has created many unusual and disturbing performances. During the other artworks, she slams into the wall or allows herself to be tortured and beaten, but as Marina says: "Everything I portray is art, with a deep message to society." Abramović's work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. To Ambramovic the purpose of art is the transformation of the artist and of the viewer.

Breathing in, Breathing out'

For almost twenty minutes, Ulay and Abramovic depend desperately on each other to stay alive. They share their breath, without external access to oxygen. The performance lasted only 17 minutes, resulting in both artists collapsing unconscious to the floor, having filled their lungs with carbon dioxide. This personal piece explored the idea of an individual’s ability to absorb the life of another person, exchanging and destroying it.

There are quite a few people who don’t understand such art and don’t consider it art: they think an artist is just an insane masochist, not an art artist.

"She whips herself, cuts herself, put instruments so other can torture her, sits for hours, days, months in a row without saying nothing, she slams her body against walls, she ultimately puts herself through hard, painful situations to find deep meaning and to test her resilience, to push the limits further uncharted inner territory. I don't think she's crazy, she's a masochist on a mission".

I think art should entertain as much as it disturbs. Most artists involved in performance art and "happenings" consider painting like a "dead" form of art. For example, the idea behind "happenings" is that the public needs to be involved in them, not just look at them and criticize them. When you make a painting, a sculpture, or a theatrical performance, the public is always watching them work from some distance. Abramović makes a distinction between theatre and performance art saying "performance is life itself".

" I am not interested in dying but I am interested in how far you can push the energy of your body, how far you can go, and then see that your energy is almost limitless. The mind is a huge enemy because, every time you try to do something out of your comfort zone, it will make you not do it. But we all have this extra energy in our bodies. We might use it when we’re in extreme situations, trapped or in a plane crash or a fire, and we’re able to run out. But we don’t need to wait for this drama."

It is impossible to put together all the videos and describe her whole worldview, I highly recommend reading and watching her lectures, interviews, articles, and other videos of her art performance on Youtube :)