In a press interview, noted performance artist Marina Abramović points out the one question no one ever asks her: “Why is this art?”
The interview clip is included in an acclaimed 2012 documentary on the artist titled “Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present” now streaming on Amazon Prime.
This film, titled after her famed 2010 retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, has risen to ignoble prominence recently after the far right conspiracy theorists of QAnon targeted false accusations against her for supposed Satanic leanings, not surprisingly rooted in out of context references.
“I am an artist, not a Satanist,” the artist told the media after an online outcry prompted Microsoft to take down a video of her last April while promoting a “mixed reality headset” called “HoloLens 2.” As in all dubious claims propagated by feverish web denizens, it’s always best to find out what all the fuss is about rather than get whipped up by people who spend a lot of time jumping to conclusions.
Directed by Matthew Akers and Jeff Dupre, “Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present” uses the artist’s MoMA show to examine how the Serbian artist, now 73, rose to near-rock star status by exploring provocative ideas about body, gender, violence, sex, feminism, and honesty. Considered avant-garde, Abramović actually worked in near isolation for many years before discovering she was part of a growing movement that was pushing the boundaries of what art is, and isn’t.
In reference to the aforementioned rare question, art is and always has been the product of an idea. Shorn of academic pretense about form, shape, color and medium, art must, to those in the performance idiom, look at the honesty of nothingness and how a human being brings it to fruition. Abramović used her body and those of collaborators to look at the ways a human body can be used to graphically confront hard truths.
To do this, she went to extremes, which sometimes posed a danger to herself and others. A series of “Rhythm” works in the 1970s saw her using various sharp instruments to inflict unimaginable endurance and personal pain to connect with the audience as viewer and participant. In one, she ignited a flaming star, laid down inside and passed out from lack of oxygen. In another, she devised a work that forced her to become unconscious, on purpose. And, in one that made headlines, she lay down near a table containing 72 objects that members of the public could use on her in any way, without consequence. Among them were honey, a whip, scissors, a scalpel and a loaded pistol. It started timid, but turned horrifying.
The film also explores her longtime collaboration with West German artist Ulay Laysiepen, during which they pushed artistic limits even further.
In the MoMA retrospective, a high point of any artist’s career, the museum opened several large galleries to films and recreations of Abramović’s works, some including live nude models. Abramović reserved for herself a piece that seems simple but which became one of the biggest draws at the institution.
Abramović simply sat in a chair, across from another chair that faced her. This was for the run of the exhibition, a work that totaled 736 hours and 30 minutes, between March 14 until May 31, 2010. The setting was blocked off by tape on the floor and audience members stood in line, sometimes for hours, for a chance to walk into the space, and sit down face-to-face with Abramović.
For some, this was inspiring and emotionally epic. For others, it was silly and ridiculous. But, it was as honest as any artist can be, to simply be “present.”
The film is excellent in that it is fair and objective, while also peeling away the layers at the heart of Abramović and her work. It’s probably more than what you might want in an artist documentary, but it is honest. It’s also a lot more human and thought provoking than anything a conspiracy theorist can cook up.
“Marina Abramović: ‘The Artist is Present” is not rated, but does contain full frontal nudity in a non-sexual context, some language, and depictions of violent acts. It is streaming now on Netflix.
Tempo grade: A.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Mitchell Storyteller 7 Theatres in Taos and the Taos Community Auditorium remain closed for the time being in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Until they reopen we will focus on movie reviews available online and through the TCA’s Big Screen @ Home series. The latter has not listed film offerings past this weekend. No explanation has been given.
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September 29, 2020 at 09:42AM
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Streaming now: 'Marina Abramović: 'The Artist is Present' - taosnews
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