Marina Abramovic
Marina Abramovic
Marina Abramovićis a Yugoslav performance artist based in New York. Her work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. Active for over three decades, Abramović has been described as the "grandmother of performance art." She pioneered a new notion of identity by bringing in the participation of observers, focusing on "confronting pain, blood, and physical limits of the body."...
NationalitySerbian
ProfessionPerformance Artist
Date of Birth30 November 1946
CountrySerbia
Marina Abramovic quotes about
In every culture, [there are those] shamans or medicine men who endured incredible physical pain, because it's a door opening to the subconsciousness. And the way we can actually control the pain -- it's how to control everything. This is the key.
I hate kitchens. I don't understand these enormous American kitchens that take up half the living room and then they just order pizza.
Because of technology, we don't develop telepathy. We don't use telepathy, but use, you know, the mobile phones. Why?
I didn't get paid for performances most of my life. If I did, I would be billionaire now, and I'm not.
I made a tape recording of a bridge collapsing and I wanted to play it suddenly and very loudly when people were walking over a big bridge in Belgrade. The council forbid it. Their imagination is tiny; mine is big. I want always to shake everything up.
Every party is the same, too many people, too little food, and you have to wait around. I'm extremely bored with parties.
When you have a nonverbal conversation with a total stranger, then he cant cover himself with words, he cant create a wall.
In my work I have complete control, but about my life, I don't want to.
Today, our attention is less than the television advertisement. We're looking at six or seven problems constantly. We're living in the disturbed societies of cities. I think modern technology is one of the worst things human beings have invented.
I notice if I'm too fat or if I'm too ugly or there's skin hanging or whatever. When my clothes start not fitting, I get really self-conscious about what I eat.
We make such terrible mistakes with visual choices about beauty.
The public is in need of experiences that are not just voyeuristic. Our society is in a mess of losing its spiritual centre.
When you're 50, the best thing to do is dance the Argentinean tango.
Talking about performance is such a strange thing because it's so immaterial. We are talking about soft matter. We are talking about something that is invisible. You can't see it. You can't touch it. You just can feel it.