Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/272257
Marina Abramovic´ is having the time of her life. Which is odd since audiences recently witnessed her demise: the great opera and theater impresario Robert Wilson staged "The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic´" at New York's Park Avenue Armory in December, to great acclaim. But the performance artist in question—perhaps the greatest of our age—is very much extant, of course, despite her good friend Wilson's homage. She's just back from Brazil, where she was mak- ing a three-hour movie called "The Current" and learning how to make the wind blow with a local shaman (a normal kind of trip for this artist). The fact that her very existence is already celebrated in song and story gives you some idea of the level she's operating at. Her 2010 MoMA show, "The Artist is Present," was probably perform- ance art's single most popular blockbuster of all time. It consisted of Abramovic´ sitting across from visitors—silently and with power- ful concentration—creating a magical moment out of seemingly nothing at all. Participants came one at a time from an endless line to bask in her presence, and she didn't get up once for eight- to 10-hour stretches. The strange determination, fortitude and intensity Abramovic´ brings to everything she does amazes even her. She's friendly and laughs easily. "Now I've been performing for 40 years," she says in an interview in her adopted hometown of New York City, where she lives in SoHo. "When I was very young, I could never imagine it. I never had the stamina or the concentration to do something like [the] MoMA [show]—because to do something close to nothing is almost impossible. Especially when you're a young artist, you feel you need to fill the space, but this all comes from insecurity." The Serbian-born Abramovic´, who looks and acts much younger than her 67 years, could never be accused of insecurity. Her latest project dwarfs all the previous ones: she plans to open the Marina Abramovic´ Institute (MAI) in Hudson, New York, the up- state town that is a magnet for intellectual weekenders. The planned 33,000-square-foot "culture spa," as she calls it, is to be designed by Rem Koolhaas—if she can raise the money. Her Kick- starter campaign garnered more than $650,000, but she needs $20 million. The campaign was immeasurably helped by a video of Lady Gaga, naked at times, practicing the Abramovic´ Method, yet an- other symbol of the artist's influence. "You know, this little kid was really incredible for me," Abramovic´ says of music's biggest star. "She's so sincere—she just wants to learn." Abramovic´ has faced some backlash here and there, with crit- ics saying she's too famous for her own good and too popular to be a serious artist—a knock that gained more force when she ap- peared in the star-studded Jay-Z video "Picasso Baby" last year. But the self-composed Abramovic´ shows no signs of being both- ered. "I have to say, not at all," she mentions, when asked if she took the criticisms to heart. "When I started doing performance art, I had such huge criticism. I was supposed to even be put in a mental hospital." It's true: whatever someone says about her, this is an artist who has been through—and put herself through—worse. In the '70s, she burst onto the European art scene with limit-pushing per- formance pieces like her Rhythm series. She cut herself, gave her- self harmful drugs and exposed herself to potential violence from audience members, causing a riot. Even in an artistic era in which Chris Burden famously had himself shot in the name of art, Abramovic´ went to the very far edge, but is now stronger for it. As she puts it, "When I survived this, nothing could touch me." Not that doing the MoMA show was a day at the beach. "For an entire year before the show, I had to not have lunch to change my metabolism," she says. The question on everyone's mind at the time was: how did she go to the bathroom, given that she didn't get up for a whole day? She had a special chair installed, but didn't use it. She had trained her body so well that it shut off when she needed it to. And it's this idea of endurance that fascinates and motivates her, going forward. The institute will be all about long-duration per- formance works across a range of media. "You need time to adjust your mind and body," she says. "If you're in the present, time does- n't exist. To me, long-duration works are the most transformative." She notes that she didn't invent this genre, as anyone who has ex- perienced, say, Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung, knows. Visitors to the institute will all wear white lab coats to match the staff, so that they are participants in the experiment, not pa- tients. And they will have to sign a pledge agreeing to stay for at least six hours, half of which will be spent undergoing the Abramovic´ Method to cleanse the body and mind. Despite being photographed out on the town with the likes of James Franco, Abramovic´ knows how to save her strength. She's in it for the long haul. "I don't drink, I don't smoke," she says. "I'm like a soldier. I don't go out nights because I get bored. I wake up at 6 a.m. I have my trainer four times a week. I like eight hours of sleep. I don't have time for a real normal life. I don't have a hus- band; I don't have kids. I think sometimes I should adopt a turtle." All this has a point, of course. She's in training for a new long- duration work—top secret for now—debuting in June. Despite all her daring, Abramovic´ is humble about the place she's reached. "I was very lucky with my work," she says. "I was so young and I thought, 'What is my purpose in life, what am I here for?' And it was very clear that I am an artist. Everything is concentrated on that." Even though it's her on stage or in the spotlight, Abramovic´ holds tight to the idea that her work is a collaboration. "I can't per- form without the audience," she says. "There's a liquid energy be- tween me and them—they complete the work." Abramovic´ pauses, and with perfect poise and immense calm she articulates her central reason for being: "When you see a really good performance, it can change your life." HER 2010 MOMA SHOW, "THE ARTIST IS PRESENT," WAS PROBABLY PERFORMANCE ART'S SINGLE MOST POPULAR BLOCKBUSTER OF ALL TIME. 92 CULTURED