Marina Abramović Enlists Performance Artists in London

Marina Abramović b. 1946, Serbia Follow +

True to the title of Marina Abramović’s most famous work, the artist will be present in London for highly anticipated shows at the Royal Academy and the Southbank Centre, but she won’t be performing.

A recently blocked artery kept Marina Abramović from flying to London for her exhibitions this month, but that didn’t keep her from coming. She took a boat from New York instead.

The artist won’t be performing at The Royal Academy‘s exhibition Marina Abramović (23 September 2023–1 January 2024) or at her Southbank Centre takeover (4–8 October), but she will be enlisting others to ‘re-perform’ her works and introduce works of their own.

In a recent interview published by the Royal Academy, Abramovic said that ‘all of my generation was against me’ when she introduced the idea of reperformance with the series ‘Seven Easy Pieces’, in which she reprised works by Joseph Beuys and Bruce Nauman, among others, at the Guggenheim in 2005. Her contemporaries said they would never give their works to others to perform.

‘Your piece has to have life, and has to have new life,’ she argued. ‘And even if people bring their own energy and their own interpretation to the work, that is better than the work being dead, dusty, just a bad video recording, or a mention in the books.’

The Royal Academy will exhibit works by Abramović through sculptures, videos, and installations. Members of the Marina Abramović Institute—established in 2007 to support a new generation of performance artists—will perform four of her works.

In Imponderabilia (1977–ongoing), two people stand naked and uncomfortably close in a doorway. Nude with Skeleton (2002–ongoing) is a meditation on mortality, while Luminosity (1997–ongoing) sees the performer sit totally exposed on a bike seat under a light projection.

In The House with the Ocean View (2002–ongoing), performers are confined to small, elevated units representing a living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom for 12 days with nothing to eat. Ladders made of knives deter them from leaving.

Another 12 artists will perform in the Marina Abramović Institute Takeover at Southbank Centre. The performances will use the entirety of Queen Elizabeth Hall, including dressing rooms, green rooms, and the foyer, to showcase works curated by Abramović.

Yiannis Pappas will confine himself in a sequence of six cells, Despina Zacharopoulou will require visitors to sign a contract committing to the duration of their visit ahead of time, and transgender artist Cassils will use their body heat to melt a male torso carved out of ice. —[O]

Main image: Marina Abramović, Self Portrait with Skeleton (2003). Cibachrome print. 127 x 203.2 cm. Courtesy Sean Kelly.