One of her exhibitions led her to reconnect with a former partner
Artist Marina Abramović is perhaps most famous for her ‘Rhythm 0’ exhibit, where she stood with 72 different objects and promised not to stop people from using them on her in any way they liked.
That performance, which took place in 1974, left the artist admitting that she was ‘ready to die’ if that’s what the audience ended up making happen, and it very nearly did.
At first, people did things like handing her flowers or just looking at her as she stood there, but as the exhibition went on, the things people did became more extreme and by the end of six hours, Marina had been stripped of her clothes and had her skin slashed.
Marina Abramovic during the performance of Rhythm 0 (Marina Abramovic Institute / YouTube)
One person even held a loaded gun to her head, then put the artist’s own finger on the trigger which prompted a fight to break out in the audience as some people tried to protect her.
Years later, she said the performance gave her ‘one streak of white hair on my head’ and she said she couldn’t ‘get rid of the feeling of fear for a long time’.
One of her other major works was called ‘The Artist Is Present’, during which she spent two-and-a-half months at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City sitting at a table with an empty chair across from her.
Those who arrived were instructed not to touch her or talk to her, but anyone could come to the museum and have a ‘silent conversation’ with the artist.
The artist broke her rule with her former partner as she reached across the table and they held hands (Museum of Modern Art)
Many found ‘The Artist Is Present’ to be particularly affecting, and in one moment Marina broke her own rules because her former partner Ulay was one of the people who arrived to sit across from her.
They had met in 1975 and started performing together, while between 1976 and 1988 they were also in a relationship with each other.
Things ended between them after a performance called ‘The Lovers’ where they walked from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China and were to be married in the middle, but Ulay admitted that he’d got his Chinese translator pregnant along the way and she told him he ought to marry her instead.
The reunion for ‘The Artist Is Present’ in 2010 appeared to be an emotional experience for the both of them as it brought Marina to tears, and they later spoke about what it had done.
“It’s been great, it’s been difficult, it’s been hell, it’s been love, it’s been hate, it’s been everything,” Marina told Ulay, as she reached for his hands.
“I never forget that moment in MoMA when I broke my rules, and I never break my rules ever, ever, ever, ever. But this is the moment I break all my rules because you were not just another visitor, you were my life.”
Ulay told her ‘thank you’, prompting Marina to say ‘wait, don’t go away’ before talking about the ’emotions we both had in the moment’.
She said that the moment was ‘so human, everybody has love, separation and everything was there reflected’, while Ulay said there was ‘no preparation, no rehearsal’ to the moment when they reunited.
Marina said she hoped the footage of them reuniting could help others who’d been through so much ‘come through the other side’.
