Marina Abramović and the Performative Body

(Marina Abramović of 1970s Presentation)

 

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 Rhythm 10
1973
1 hour.

 

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Rhythm 5
1974
1 1/2 hours.

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Rhythm 2
1974
7 hours.

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Rhythm 4
1974
45 minutes.

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Rhythm 0
1974
6 Hours.

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Ulay And Abramović:
Collaborative Performances

 

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Marina Abramović Youtube Channel

For more information on the life and works of Marina Abramović, visit my Marina Abramović Youtube channel here.

Top 5 Video Picks:

1. In Your Face: Interview: Marina Abramović:
This is a fascinating interview with Abramović. She talks about everything from her beginnings as a performance artist, her collaboration and relationship with fellow artist Ulay, her celebrity collaborations, to her current performance works and upcoming Marina Abramović Institute. This is a wonderful video whether you have just heard of Abramović, or you have studied her in depth and are interested her perspective on how she and her work has changed since the 1970s.

2. Marina and Ulay Archival:
In 1976 Abramovicć met German artist Ulay, and for the next decade, until they dramatically parted ways in 1988, they collaborated in a series of performance works where they presented themselves as a single, androgynous being called Ulay-Abramović. This was a formative decade for Abramović, and in this video she discusses both her performance work leading up to when she first met Ulay, as well as the themes and ideas that developed during their time together. This video spans their entire relationship together leading up to Abramović’s 2010 retrospective at MoMA, The Artist is Present, where Ulay made a surprise appearance.

3. Body Art: Meet Performance Artist Marina Abramović:
While be warned, this video is slightly corny (it is from an interview conducted for CBS Sunday Morning), it does provide a nice overview of the life and work of Abramović, from her childhood in Belgrade, up to her present endeavors with the Marina Abramović Institute.

4.Marina Abramović: Embracing Fashion | “Exclusive” | Art21:
The premise of this video is a discussion with Abramović about her current love of designer fashion, a fact that has earned her criticism from other artists and art critics as a sign of “selling out.” However, this video by Art21 is much more than a discussion of fashion. This video provides a great, concise overview of Abramović’s early performance works of the 70s and 80s, including phenomenal video clips from the performances so that you don’t need to rely solely on written descriptions of the works.

5. Marina Abramović: The Body as Medium:
For years Abramović studied drawing and painting, first at the institute in Belgrade, and then in Zagreb, where she finally was exposed to performance. In this short video, Abramović talks about when she first discovered the medium of performance and use of the body. It includes images of her early paintings, which were often of abstract clouds, voluptuous women, or car crashes.

 

Pushing One’s Mental and Physical Boundaries: A Career in Performance

Over the past forty years Marina Abramović has used her body as a tool to test both physical and emotional limits in her performances. At the same time that Abramović explores her own physical and psychological limitations, she is also challenging the traditionally passive role of viewer.

Below is a video which provides a useful overview of Abramović’s career, from her beginning in performance with the Rhythm Series in 1973, to her 2010 retrospective at the MoMA, The Artist is Present.

Abramović & Ulay

The Confrontation of Sexual Difference: Ulay/Abramović

Abramović and Ulay c.1976

 

In 1976 Abramović met West-German artist, Ulay (Frank Uwe Laysiepen), and over the next decade Abramović and Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen) collaborated in a series of relational performances during which they referred to themselves as a collective, androgynous being. In these collaborative works Abramović and Ulay questioned the socially defined identities of both femininity and masculinity, and encouraged viewers to participate through their own exploration of gender relationships.


 

Relation in Time (1977)

In 1977 Abramović and Ulay performed Relation in Time in Bologna, Italy, where they sat back to back, tied together by their ponytails. After sixteen hours of sitting silent and barely moving, they allowed the public to enter the room so that Abramović and Ulay could see if they could use the energy of the public to push their limits even further.

 

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1. Marina Abramović and Ulay Relation in Time, 1977 Studio G7, Bologna

Below is a film explaining the Registration in Time performance, along with video documentation of the piece.


Relation in Space (1976)

In Relation in Space (1976), Abramović and Ulay, both naked, repeatedly ran into each other at an increasing pace, until after an hour and a half they were smacking into one another so hard that Abramović was being thrown to the ground (image 2).

2. Marina Abramović and Ulay, Relation in Space, 1976. Performane at Venice Biennale.

 


Imponderabilia (1977)

In Imponderabilia, Abramović and Ulay, stood as human doorposts on either side of the narrow entrance to the museum. The narrowness of the space forced visitors to squeeze sideways between them, having to choose whether to face the naked Ulay or naked Abramović (image 3). The focus of the performance is not to emphasize the vulnerability of the nude bodies of Abramović and Ulay, but rather the reactions of the visitors.

 

3. Marina Abramović and Ulay. Imponderabilia, 1977 Performance at the Galleria Communale d’Arte, Bologna, Italy.

Below is video documentation of Imponderabilia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgeF7tOks4s


Breathing In, Breathing Out (1977)

Breathing In, Breathing Out was performed in 1977 in Belgrade. For this piece, which lasted 19 minutes, Abramović and Ulay plugged their noses with cigarette filters, then pressed their mouths together, passing their breath back and forth for as long as possible (image 4). This piece, through the exchange of one breath, is representative of Abramović and Ulay’s interest in presenting themselves as one, androgynous being.

4. Breathing In, Breathing Out, 1977.

Below is a 30 second clip from Breathing In, Breathing Out:

 


 AAA-AAA (1978)

In this performance Abramović and Ulay stand opposite of each other and make long sounds with their mouths open. Gradually, they move closer and closer to one another, until eventually they are yelling directly into each others open mouths (image 5). The performance, which lasted 15 minutes, continued until both artist’s voices were  out of sync and failing from the continuous yelling. This piece demonstrates their interest in endurance and duration, as well as an exploration of aggression between physically present figures, one male and one female.

5. Marina Abramović and Ulay, AAA-AAA, 1978.

Below is a ten-minute film explaining the performance AAA-AAA, including video documentation of the performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAIfLnQ26JY


Nightsea Crossing (1981-1987)

In Nightsea Crossing, a series of twenty-two performances between 1981 and 1987. In these performances, Abramović and fellow artist, Uwe Laysiepen, or Ulay, sat silently across from each other in chairs for seven hours a day (image 6). Through this series of performances Abramović and Ulay attempted to portray the continuation of inner consciousness despite exterior motionlessness.

6. Marina Abramović and Ulay, Nightsea Crossing, 1981-87

Rhythm Series (1973-74)

Between 1973-1974, Abramović performed five pieces in which she tested the mental and physical limitations of her own body. This series of performances, called “Rhythms,” represent Abramović’s turn away from more traditional media of painting or drawing, to instead focus on the use of her own body as art.

Rhythm 10 (1973). 1 hour.

The first performance of the Rhythm Series, Rhythm 10, is also Abramović’s first performance of her career.  In Rhythm 10 Abramović adapts the Slavic knife game, called “five finger fillet” in which the player places their palm facing down on the table, then proceeds to attempt to stab a knife back and forth between their fingers at an increasing speed. The game holds a real risk of bloodshed and serious injury. Abramović, in her adaption of the game, increased risk by introducing a selection of twenty different knives of various sizes and shapes. Two tape recorders sat on the floor next to her, recording the rhythms of the knives. In this piece, once Abramović had inflicted ten wounds on herself, she stopped then returned to the knives and attempted to replicate the exact movements and cuts she’d inflicted the first time. The performance was not over until Abramović had used every single knife twice.

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1. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 10, 1973. Performance, 1 hour Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Borghese, Rome From: Abramović, Marina, and Klaus Biesenbach. 2010. Marina Abramović: the artist is present. New York: Museum of Modern Art.

“I turn on the tape recorder.

I take the first knife and stab in between the fingers of my left hand as fast as possible.

Every time I cut myself, I change the knife.

When I’ve used all of the knives (all of the rhythms), I rewind the tape recorder.

I listen to the tape recording of the first part of the performance.

I concentrate…” 

-Marina Abramović; instructions from the Rhythm 10 performance.

Rhythm 10
2. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 10, 1973. Performance, 1 hour Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Borghese, Rome From: Abramović, Marina, and Klaus Biesenbach. 2010. Marina Abramović: the artist is present. New York: Museum of Modern Art.

 

rhythm 10 knife shot
3. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 10, 1973. Performance, 1 hour Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Borghese, Rome From: Abramović, Marina, and Klaus Biesenbach. 2010. Marina Abramović: the artist is present. New York: Museum of Modern Art.

 

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4. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 10, 1973. Performance, 1 hour Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Borghese, Rome From: Abramović, Marina, and Klaus Biesenbach. 2010. Marina Abramović: the artist is present. New York: Museum of Modern Art.

In these first three images one can see the white sheet of paper which Abramović lay on the floor below her. As Abramović completed her performance, her increasing bloodshed marked the paper, emphasizing her pain and sacrifice.

Rhythm 10 directions
5. Instructions for Rhythm 10 Performance.

This image depicts Abramović’s instructions for the Rhythm 10 performance, an excerpt of which I included earlier in this post. Abramović’s adherence to her pre-set rules for the performance demonstrates her dedication to testing her mental and physical endurance through ritual and sacrifice.


 

Rhythm 5 (1973). 1 1/2 Hours.

The second performance of Abramović’s Rhythm Series is Rhythm 5, which was performed in the Student Cultural Center in Belgrade in 1974. In Rhythm 5, Abramović constructed a five-pointed communist star from wood and wood shavings, hence the title Rhythm 5. She then soaked the star in 100 liters of petrol. After setting fire to it, Abramović ceremoniously paced in a crucifixion pose, around the burning star. She then proceeded to cut her hair, and as she paced repeatedly around the burning altar, she fed bunches of it to each point of the star like a sacrificial offering. She followed this by then cutting her fingernails, followed by her toenails, which she also scattered among the five corners of the star. Only after having repeatedly circled the star and depositing her bodily offerings, does Abramović step into the star.As Abramović lay at the center of the burning star, the severity of the fire quickly absorbed the oxygen, causing her to lose consciousness. Upon realizing Abramović was unconscious, two audience members intervened, and removed her from the flames.

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6. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 5, 1974. Performance, 1 ½ hours. Student Cultural Center, Belgrade

Rhythm 5 began with the building of the five-pointed star, which was then soaked with petrol and lit on fire as shown above.

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7. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 5, 1974. Performance, 1 ½ hours. Student Cultural Center, Belgrade

The above image depicts Abramović in the process of cutting her hair in preparation to scatter it among the five points of the burning star like a sacrificial offering.

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8. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 5, 1974. Performance, 1 ½ hours. Student Cultural Center, Belgrade

Here one can see Abramović lying at the center of the burning star not long before she lost consciousness and had to be rescued from the flames by audience members.

Abramović expressed immense frustration following this performance due to her physical limitations. However, through her failure to complete this performance, Abramović discovered a new area of focus for the remaining three performances of her Rhythm Series: that of the limits of the body:

“I was supposed to stay there, till it burned down, but as I was lying there the fire took up all the oxygen and I passed out. Nobody knew what was happening till a doctor in the audience noticed it and pulled me out. This was when I realized that the subject of my work should be the limits of the body.”

 


Rhythm 2 (1974). 6 Hours.

Following her failure to remain physically conscious in Rhythm 5, Abramović, in her following Rhythm, sought a form of performance in which she could “use the body with and without consciousness, without stopping the performance.” In Rhythm 2, performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb in October, 1974, Abramović created a performance that promoted a planned loss of control. For this performance Abramović took medications typically used for patients of catatonia and schizophrenia and filmed the results in front of an audience. This performance was shown in two parts over seven hours, split between her experiences of each of the two pills she ingested. This time the title Rhythm 2, refers to the two pills. Through her lack of control over the affects of the pills, Abramović sacrificed herself both psychologically and physically while still maintaining an active mind

Rhythm 2 part 1
9. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 2, 1974. Performance, 7 hours (total). Galerija, Suvremene Umjetnosti, Zagreb.

For the first part of Rhythm 2 (seen in the image above) which took 50 minutes, Abramović took the pill meant for the treatment of acute catatonia. . Soon after ingesting the first pill, Abramović’s muscles began to seize up, until she was completely unable to control the movement of her body. While mentally she was conscious of what was happening, she was unable to physically react.

Rhythm 2 part 2
10. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 2, 1974. Performance, 7 hours (total). Galerija, Suvremene Umjetnosti, Zagreb.

For the second part of the performance, Abramović repeated the defined steps of part one, but this time ingested the pill for schizophrenia. This medicine is meant to calm down schizophrenic patients who struggle with violent behavior. Similarly to the first part of the performance, Abramović soon lost control over her own body. This time what was sacrificed was Abramović’s sense of identity. During the five hours it took for the medication to wear off, Abramović was completely unaware of herself.


 

Rhythm 4 (1974). 45 Minutes.

The next performance in Abramović’s Rhythm Series is Rhythm 4, which was performed at the Galleria Diagramma in Milan later in 1974. For this piece Abramović kneeled alone and naked in a room with a high-power industrial fan. The performance was recorded and then projected for the audience in the room next door. As her act of sacrifice, Abramović slowly approached the fan and attempted to breath in as much air as possible, pushing the limits of her lungs. Soon after, Abramović lost consciousness.

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11. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 4, 1974. Performance, 45 minutes. Galleria Diagramma, Milan.

 

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12. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 4, 1974. Performance, 45 minutes. Galleria Diagramma, Milan.

In these first two images, one sees the naked figure of Abramović as she slowly approaches the industrial fan. She is in a small room by herself, separated from her audience who watches on a monitor next-door.

Rhythm 4 closeup
13. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 4, 1974. Performance, 45 minutes. Galleria Diagramma, Milan.

Due to Abramović’s previous experience in Rhythm 5 when audience members intervened in the performance, for this piece Abramović made specific plans so that her loss of consciousness would not interfere with the completion of the performance. Before the performance began, Abramović instructed the cameraman to zoom in closely on her face without showing the fan (as seen in the final image), so that the audience would be unaware of her unconscious state, and less likely to intervene on her behalf. Unfortunately for Abramović, the morality of the audience hindered her physical surrender. After being unconscious for several minutes, the cameraman refused to continue, and sent gallery staff to help her.


 

Rhythm 0 (1974). 6 Hours.

The last performance of the Rhythm Series is Rhythm 0. Performed in the Galleria Studio Mora in Naples at the end of 1974, Abramović used this performance to challenge the division between performer and the passive viewer, by placing the power in the hands of the audience. On one of the gallery walls Abramović posted a label on which she stated, “I am the object. During this period I take full responsibility.” For the arbitrarily defined six-hour duration of this performance, from 8pm to 2am, Abramović sacrificed her body as an object to the whims of an increasingly aggressive audience.

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14. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance, 6 hours. Studio Mona, Naples.
rhythm 0 instructions
15. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance, 6 hours. Studio Mona, Naples.

While Abramović stood resolutely still, audience members had the opportunity to use any of the seventy-two objects Abramović had provided. These objects included items that could be used for pleasure, like perfume or sugar, and those that could be used for pain, such as razor blades or nails (you can see a picture of the table of “props” below). Abramović’s adolescent interest in the game of Russian roulette is also represented through the inclusion of a gun and one bullet on the table. By including potentially deadly objects to be used by the audience, the risk of death becomes palpable.

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16. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance, 6 hours. Studio Mona, Naples.  Table with the 72 objects to be used by audience members during the performance.

 

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17. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance, 6 hours. Studio Mona, Naples.

The above images depicts audience members selecting objects from the table of seventy-two props available for use on the “objectified” Abramović. The objects themselves pose no threat. It is only through the use of these objects by the audience, that these items could, and did become a threat to Abramović. While some audience members aggressively “had their fun” with Abramović’s objectified form, others attempted to protect her (images 18-19)

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18. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance, 6 hours. Studio Mona, Naples.

 

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19. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance, 6 hours. Studio Mona, Naples.

In the first three hours of the performance the audience was relatively timid. She was moved into a variety of poses, her clothes were torn off, and she was written on with lipstick (images 18-19). However, as time passed, and Abramović continued to stare passively into space, the audience members became more aggressive. One person cut her neck with a razor blade then drank her blood. Another wove a thorn-covered rose around her neck. Finally, when an audience member placed the loaded pistol in Abramović’s hand, and pointed it at her chest, the performance was stopped (images 20-21).

Rhythm 0
20. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance, 6 hours. Studio Mona, Naples.
21. Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance, 6 hours. Studio Mona, Naples.

Learn more about Rhythm 0 by watching this brief but informative overview of the performance, narrated by Abramović herself.