Marina Abramovic By Pilar Talavera Oré

Marina Abramovic 

By Pilar Talavera Oré

To work the performance from a contemporary cultural landscape, involves claiming its ritual status from two basic axes: the time-space concept and the resignification of the figure of the "other," the viewer. The body as a sculpture of a political nature that entails a number of questions with respect to certain entrenched paradigms. Thus we can speak of a redefinition of the "aura" after the proclaim of its death, early this century, by the hands of Walter Benjamin, as the use of allegory and truth as experiences that are built on the act. 

My point of departure about foundational action art, and its contributions, is based on the work of Marina Abramovic, because here you are able to see the materialisation of specific concepts by means of extreme physicity. On the other hand, is a paradigmatic unique case, because his work comprises much of the history of performance art to date, and this has allowed the construction of a hybrid discourse without questioning the importance of the body and the audience. 

Throughout his career, Abramovic has carried body and mind to the limit by self-injury, exhaustion and meditation. In her first performances (1973-1975), its source of energy and empathy was the physical pain, as a construction that generates a bridge to the other. From his work in collaboration with Ulay (1975-1988) her strength lies in a constant test of discipline and self-knowledge that is given upon the idea of a duplicity that transforms them in the field of semantics, and also mirroring and reflecting themselves. 

This idea of "mirror" continues in the series of performances 'Nightsea Crossing,' made between 1981 and 1987. From this series, Abramovic and Ulay developed the idea of concentration and total control of the body. In these actions there was always a long table, two chairs occupied by them sitting facing each other, looking at and showing to the audience the same profile for hours. The idea of "the other," the one that observes, was from then on a key part of their actions. 

This audience, "the other", has been able to take the place of the reflection of Abramovic and, at the same time, be reflected in her, all thanks to his latest piece, 'The Artist is Present,’ held in the context of her first retrospective exhibition at MOMA . This performance, the longest of her career so far, is a revision of 'Crossing Nightsea,' with the difference that in this case the artist is in a dual position, both powerful and vulnerable, because if she is the artist and is present; the work itself exists in the extent the "other" that is present in that precise space in front of her and participating in this ritual. 

Abramovic has always been characterised by giving a high sense of ritual to all her works, she finds in the relationship space-time-present an indispensable factor for the development of performance art. For this reason, the retrospective not only had her presence in the performance during three months, she also worked the register of his work beyond the static print, as other performers could be seen playing her early pieces as if it were a musical piece played from a score. Thus, the artist introduces a concept that already worked earlier in his series 'Five Easy Pieces' (2005), which is the concept of "reperform." I find this concept one of the key elements for the development of actual performance. 

The common problem with the registry, the lack of its auratic characteristics and, at the same time, the amount of work that isn’t understand because of our inability to fully grasp the register that transmits the force of an action or a space-time displacement, all this make of this new resource a breaking point that, perhaps, could shake up the contemporary creation of performance, sometimes, very locked on itself, both: as a discipline and as authors.