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Marina Abramović
A career-spanning survey on Marina Abramovic, created in close collaboration with the legendary performance artist Over the past half century, Marina Abramovic has earned worldwide acclaim as a pioneer of performance art. In the fall of 2023 the Royal Academy in London is staging a massive exhibition featuring works from her entire career. Re-performances of some of her best-known and most radical works join new works created for the exhibition. Produced in collaboration with the artist, this important publication brings expert voices into the debate that Abramovic’s work engenders.
How far should an artist push herself in pursuit of her work? What role does the audience play in creating a performance? How can performance art outlive the moment in which it takes place? Among the authoritative authors contributing here are Hans Ulrich Obrist, director of the Serpentine Galleries, London, and the eminent theologian and author Devin Zuber. In an interview with Tim Marlow, Abramovic reflects on her extraordinary career and expands on the ideas behind the exhibition. Using an image-recognition app, images in the book are linked to video content, so readers can see many of Abramovic’s original performance pieces come to life.
Marina Abramovic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, former Yugoslavia, in 1946. Now an icon of performance art, Abramovic is known internationally for her endurance pieces in which she subjects herself to unusual and often extreme conditions. From 1977 to 1988 she worked closely with West German artist Uwe "Ulay" Laysiepen, with whom she produced several of her most significant works. Her 2010 solo piece The Artist Is Present served in part to introduce a new generation to Abramovic’s oeuvre; in this piece, which took place over the course of three months, Abramovic sat at a table in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, for eight hours a day as different strangers sat opposite her, holding one another’s gaze for a minute each. She is one of the founders of the Marina Abramovic Institute.
How far should an artist push herself in pursuit of her work? What role does the audience play in creating a performance? How can performance art outlive the moment in which it takes place? Among the authoritative authors contributing here are Hans Ulrich Obrist, director of the Serpentine Galleries, London, and the eminent theologian and author Devin Zuber. In an interview with Tim Marlow, Abramovic reflects on her extraordinary career and expands on the ideas behind the exhibition. Using an image-recognition app, images in the book are linked to video content, so readers can see many of Abramovic’s original performance pieces come to life.
Marina Abramovic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, former Yugoslavia, in 1946. Now an icon of performance art, Abramovic is known internationally for her endurance pieces in which she subjects herself to unusual and often extreme conditions. From 1977 to 1988 she worked closely with West German artist Uwe "Ulay" Laysiepen, with whom she produced several of her most significant works. Her 2010 solo piece The Artist Is Present served in part to introduce a new generation to Abramovic’s oeuvre; in this piece, which took place over the course of three months, Abramovic sat at a table in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, for eight hours a day as different strangers sat opposite her, holding one another’s gaze for a minute each. She is one of the founders of the Marina Abramovic Institute.
- GenresArtArt HistoryNonfiction
262 pages, Hardcover
Published September 11, 2023
About the author
Marina Abramović
90 books787 followersSince the beginning of her career in Belgrade during the early 1970s, Marina Abramovic has pioneered performance as a visual art form, creating some of the most important early works. The body has always been both her subject and medium. Exploring her physical and mental limits in works that ritualize the simple actions of everyday life, she has withstood pain, exhaustion and danger in her quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. From 1975–88, Abramovic and the German artist Ulay performed together, dealing with relations of duality. Abramovic returned to solo performances in 1989.
She has presented her work at major institutions in the US and Europe, including the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven,1985; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1990; Neue National Galerie, Berlin, 1993, and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1995. She has also participated in many large-scale international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1976 and 1997) and Documenta VI, VII and IX, Kassel (1977, 1982 and 1992). Recent performances include "The House With The Ocean View" at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York in 2002, and the Performance "7 Easy Pieces" at Guggenheim Museum, New York in 2005. In 2010, Abramovic had her first major U.S. retrospective and simultaneously performed for over 700 hours in “The Artist is Present” at Museum of Modern Art, New York. Using herself and the public as medium, Abramovic performed for three months at the Serpentine Gallery in London, 2014; the piece was titled after the duration of the work, “512 Hours”.
She was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale for the video installation and performance “Balkan Baroque.” In 2008 she was decorated with the Austrian Commander Cross for her contribution to Art History. In 2013, the French Minister of Culture accepted her as an Officer to the Order of Arts and Letters. In addition to these and other awards, Abramovic also holds multiple honorary doctorates from institutions around the world.
Abramovic founded the Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI), a platform for immaterial and long durational work to create new possibilities for collaboration among thinkers of all fields. The institute inhabited its most complete form to date in 2016 in collaboration with NEON in “As One”, Benaki Museum, Athens.
She has presented her work at major institutions in the US and Europe, including the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven,1985; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1990; Neue National Galerie, Berlin, 1993, and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1995. She has also participated in many large-scale international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1976 and 1997) and Documenta VI, VII and IX, Kassel (1977, 1982 and 1992). Recent performances include "The House With The Ocean View" at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York in 2002, and the Performance "7 Easy Pieces" at Guggenheim Museum, New York in 2005. In 2010, Abramovic had her first major U.S. retrospective and simultaneously performed for over 700 hours in “The Artist is Present” at Museum of Modern Art, New York. Using herself and the public as medium, Abramovic performed for three months at the Serpentine Gallery in London, 2014; the piece was titled after the duration of the work, “512 Hours”.
She was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale for the video installation and performance “Balkan Baroque.” In 2008 she was decorated with the Austrian Commander Cross for her contribution to Art History. In 2013, the French Minister of Culture accepted her as an Officer to the Order of Arts and Letters. In addition to these and other awards, Abramovic also holds multiple honorary doctorates from institutions around the world.
Abramovic founded the Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI), a platform for immaterial and long durational work to create new possibilities for collaboration among thinkers of all fields. The institute inhabited its most complete form to date in 2016 in collaboration with NEON in “As One”, Benaki Museum, Athens.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
December 6, 2025
“In zekere zin werkte elke kunstenaar aan een micro-utopie.”
Abramović als kunstcriticus van de commercialisering van haar vak; Marina als compromisloze Balkankunstenares; een onwrikbare inzet van het leven voor de kunst.
Het boek gaat in op haar bekende performances uit de jaren 70 en 80, de werken met Ulay en haar tweede soloperiode. Dit tweede luik van haar carrière gaat vooral op zoek naar een vernieuwde relatie met de wereld. Op een sjamanistische wijze zoekt ze naar de vibraties van de wereld en brengt deze via tokens en performances over op het lichaam van de toeschouwer als ontvanger.
Geen slechte introductie op haar algemene oeuvre, maar er moet eens een goede editor door om de herhalingen tussen de verschillende auteurs eruit te halen. :)
Abramović als kunstcriticus van de commercialisering van haar vak; Marina als compromisloze Balkankunstenares; een onwrikbare inzet van het leven voor de kunst.
Het boek gaat in op haar bekende performances uit de jaren 70 en 80, de werken met Ulay en haar tweede soloperiode. Dit tweede luik van haar carrière gaat vooral op zoek naar een vernieuwde relatie met de wereld. Op een sjamanistische wijze zoekt ze naar de vibraties van de wereld en brengt deze via tokens en performances over op het lichaam van de toeschouwer als ontvanger.
Geen slechte introductie op haar algemene oeuvre, maar er moet eens een goede editor door om de herhalingen tussen de verschillende auteurs eruit te halen. :)
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review