Marina Abramović facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marina Abramović
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| Марина Абрамовић | |
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Abramović in 2024
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| Born | November 30, 1946 Belgrade, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
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Notable work
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| Movement | Conceptual art/signalism |
| Spouse(s) |
Neša Paripović
(m. 1971; div. 1976)Paolo Canevari
(m. 2005; div. 2009) |
| Partner(s) | Ulay (1976–1988) |
Marina Abramović (born November 30, 1946) is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, and the relationship between the performer and the audience. She is known for pushing the limits of the body and mind. Abramović calls herself the "grandmother of performance art" because she has been active for over forty years. She helped create a new way of thinking about art by involving the audience. In 2007, she started the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI) to support performance art.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Marina Abramović was born in Belgrade, Serbia, which was then part of Yugoslavia, on November 30, 1946. Her parents were Yugoslav Partisans during World War II. After the war, they held important positions in the Yugoslavian government.
Abramović was raised by her grandparents until she was six years old. Her grandmother was very religious. Marina spent her early childhood learning about church rituals. When she was six, she moved in with her parents. Her mother was very strict. Marina was not allowed to leave the house after 10 PM until she was 29 years old.
She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Belgrade from 1965 to 1970. She then continued her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb in 1972. From 1973 to 1975, she taught at the Academy of Fine Arts at Novi Sad. During this time, she also began her first solo performances.
In 1976, Abramović moved to Amsterdam. She later became a visiting professor at art schools in Paris, Berlin, and Hamburg. From 1997 to 2004, she was a professor of performance art in Braunschweig, Germany. Abramović says she feels like an "ex-Yugoslav" rather than a Serb or Montenegrin. She often says she comes from "a country that no longer exists."
Art Career
Working with Ulay
In 1976, Marina Abramović met the German performance artist Uwe Laysiepen, known as Ulay. They started living and performing together. Their work explored ideas about identity and how artists see themselves. They created "relation works" that involved constant movement and change. They called themselves "The Other" and acted like twins. This helped them understand the artist as a performer in a new way.
Abramović and Ulay's art tested the body's physical limits. They explored male and female energies and nonverbal communication.
- In Relation in Space (1976), they ran into each other for an hour.
- Relation in Movement (1977) involved them driving a car inside a museum for 365 laps.
Between 1981 and 1987, they performed Nightsea Crossing many times. They sat silently across from each other for seven hours a day.
In 1988, Abramović and Ulay decided to end their relationship with a special journey. They walked the Great Wall of China from opposite ends. The piece was called Lovers. They met in the middle after each walking 2,500 kilometers and said goodbye. Abramović said this walk was a "complete personal drama" and a romantic ending to their time together. It took them eight years to get permission from the Chinese government for this project.
Years later, in 2010, Abramović performed The Artist Is Present at MoMA. Ulay made a surprise visit. When he sat across from her, Marina had a very emotional reaction. A video of this moment became very popular online.
Spirit Cooking
In 1996, Abramović created a cookbook called Spirit Cooking with Jacob Samuel. The "recipes" were not for food. Instead, they were "evocative instructions for actions or for thoughts." This work was inspired by the idea that ghosts feed on things like light, sound, and emotions.
In 1997, Abramović turned Spirit Cooking into a multimedia art installation. She also used it as a theme for dinner parties she hosted for friends and art supporters.
Balkan Baroque
Abramović created Balkan Baroque in 1997 as a response to the Bosnian War. She felt the war was too close to her own experiences to make art about it right away. The performance took place in Venice. Abramović wanted the images from her performance to represent not just the war in Bosnia, but any war around the world.
Seven Easy Pieces
Starting in November 2005, Abramović presented Seven Easy Pieces at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. For seven nights, she recreated famous performance art pieces from the 1960s and 1970s. Each performance lasted seven hours. These works were very challenging, requiring great physical and mental focus from the artist.
The Artist Is Present
From March to May 2010, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York held a large exhibition of Abramović's work. It was the biggest performance art show in MoMA's history. During this exhibition, Abramović performed The Artist Is Present. This was a 736-hour and 30-minute silent performance. She sat still in the museum's main area, and visitors were invited to sit opposite her.
Abramović sat in a chair, and a chair was placed across from her for visitors. People waited in long lines to sit with her. Most visitors sat for five minutes or less. She maintained eye contact with each person. Abramović sat across from 1,545 people. These included famous figures like James Franco, Lou Reed, and Björk. Visitors were asked not to touch or speak to her. By the end of the show, hundreds of people lined up overnight to get a chance to sit with her.
Abramović said this show changed her life completely. After singer Lady Gaga saw the show and talked about it, Abramović found a new audience. Many young people, aged 12 to 18, who usually did not go to museums, started coming because of Lady Gaga. They saw the show and kept coming back.
Other Works and Collaborations
In 2009, Abramović was featured in a documentary film called Our City Dreams. She is also the subject of an independent documentary film, Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present, which won a Peabody Award in 2012.
In June 2013, Abramović presented a new art piece in Toronto. She also co-created a play called The Life and Death of Marina Abramović.
In 2007, Abramović founded the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI). This is a non-profit group that supports performance art. She also supports the Live Art Development Agency in London.
In June 2014, she presented a new piece called 512 Hours in London. In another work, Generator (2014), participants wore blindfolds and noise-canceling headphones. This helped them explore the idea of nothingness.
For her 70th birthday in 2016, Abramović held a party at the Guggenheim museum. The first part, "Silence," lasted 70 minutes. Then came "Entertainment," where she gave a speech.
In 2015, Abramović gave a TED talk titled, "An art made of trust, vulnerability and connection." In 2019, a TV show called Documentary Now! made a funny episode that copied Abramović's work.
In 2021, she created a monument called Crystal wall of crying in Ukraine. This monument remembers a Holocaust massacre. In 2023, she became the first woman in 255 years to have a solo show in the main galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts.
Films
In 2008, Abramović directed a part of a film called Stories on Human Rights. She also acted in a short film, Antony and the Johnsons: Cut the World.
Marina Abramović Institute
The Marina Abramović Institute (MAI) is an organization focused on performance art. It supports long-duration performances and uses the "Abramović Method."
Abramović bought a building in Hudson, New York, in 2007, hoping to create a museum space. The project was canceled in 2017 because it was too expensive. However, the institute still works as a traveling organization. MAI has partnered with many art groups and artists around the world, including in Brazil, Greece, and Turkey.
Collaborations with Artists
Marina Abramović has worked with many artists. She is friends with actor James Franco, who interviewed her in 2009. Franco also visited her during The Artist Is Present exhibition.
In 2013, Abramović worked with pop singer Lady Gaga for her album Artpop. Lady Gaga also took part in an 'Abramović Method' video.
That same month, Jay-Z performed his song "Picasso Baby" for six hours at a gallery. Abramović and other artists were invited to dance with him. This performance was inspired by Abramović's work. She allowed Jay-Z to use her ideas if he donated to her institute. Later, Abramović said she was not told about Jay-Z's donation and apologized for her earlier comments.
Personal Life
Abramović is interested in esotericism and Spiritualism.
Awards
- Golden Lion, XLVII Venice Biennale, 1997
- New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies), 2002
- International Association of Art Critics, Best Show in a Commercial Gallery Award, 2003
- Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (2008)
- Honorary Doctorate of Arts, University of Plymouth UK, September 25, 2009
- Honorary Royal Academician (HonRA), September 27, 2011
- Cultural Leadership Award, American Federation of Arts, October 26, 2011
- Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Instituto Superior de Arte, Cuba, May 14, 2012
- Lifetime Achievement Awards, Podgorica, Montenegro, October 1, 2012
- The Karić brothers award (category art and culture), 2012
- Berliner Bär (B.Z.-Kulturpreis) (2012)
- Golden Medal for Merits, Republic of Serbia, 2021
- Princess of Asturias Award in the category of Arts, 2021.
- Sonning Prize, 2023
See also
In Spanish: Marina Abramović para niños
