Marina Abramović Exercises reading here
Over the course of her performance art career, Marina Abramović developed a signature method of techniques that would allow her to reach a higher plane of consciousness required for grueling, endurance-based work. She researched various spiritual and cultural realms, oftentimes spending time with people such as the aboriginal tribes of Australia or Chinese Buddhists. Her learning lent Marina a superhuman sensibility that included the ability to sit for hours on end without moving, to conjure laser sharp focus while spending extended periods of time in repetitive action, or to withstand intense self-inflicted pain.
In The Artist is Present, 2013, she employed the culmination of a career’s worth of her method to be able to sit physically present over many days while still intimately connecting with each and every person who came to sit with her. Although she was physically exhausted and mentally depleted by the end of the performance, viewers had no visible hint of her suffering throughout the piece. Marina coined her practices the Abramović Method, an exploration of being present in both time and space, incorporating exercises that center on breath, motion, stillness and concentration. She has since shared it via workshops with both aspiring artists and non-artists looking to reach a higher plane of existence.
Marina Abramovic's work is so moving. I realized out of these readings, that I can incorporate methods from different practices into my work. When I paint I can create a method and system to incorporate spiritual practices into the practice of painting and thinking of ideas.
ReplyDeleteYes Roxy Paine, Sol Lewitt, and Yoko Ono all impose systems on to the idea(s) of painting and drawing. May others as well.
DeleteMarina Abramović is who I always think of when thinking of performance art and endurance works. Her performances seem really similar to Buddhist monk meditations in regards to spirituality, the act of meditation, and asceticism. From what I understand of Buddhist meditation, during it you are actively focusing on a body's sensation and become an observer of your own body and existence. It's interesting to me that she spoke on the internal observation that happens with her Abramović method and the external observation that occurs when others look onto her. Her ability to do extreme endurance pieces, to me, seems to be because of she borrows from Buddhist monk meditations who also able to sit completely still for hours and endure pain. It makes me wonder if she learned of Buddhist meditation from monks, or if she learned it on her own.
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