13 March 2013
/ i've loved marina abramovic's work for as long as i can remember. last fall at moma i saw a documentary featuring her life, work, and her 2010 retrospective at moma after which the documentary is named -- 'marina abramovic: the artist is present'
the documentary was fantastic. i left feeling invigorated, empowered, and hopeful. i remember crying in the theater at various parts, especially during the clip i posted above. there is a long back story to it, but marina had a long-time relationship with another artist with whom she collaborated with and did performances with for over 20 years. they broke it off following their final performance piece together, aptly called 'the lovers - the great wall walk' in which they both started walking towards each other from the ends of the great wall of china and met in the middle after 3 months of walking.
during marina's retrospective, ulay came to the exhibition without marina knowing and sat across from her. the raw emotion is so overwhelming to me as an outside observer, i can't imagine what either of them is actually feeling inside. the expressions on their faces and within their eyes says it all.. it's like they are having a silent conversation with just eye contact and emotional gestures.. one of the most beautiful things
