An intmate film portrait of acclaimed artist Marina Abramović
Marina Abramović is one of the most important artists of her generation. In over four decades, her performance art has seen her repeatedly stab her own hand, had a stranger point a loaded gun at her head, sat in silence for 700 hours, set herself on fire and act out her own funeral. She now focuses on her largest undertaking: the opening of the Marina Abramović Foundation for the Preservation of Performance Art.
In the Serbian-born, New York-based artist's first major interview since her HBO feature documentary last year, this exclusive film by Derek Peck sees Abramović discuss her plans for the institute, its importance; her interest in Shamanism and how it relates to her art; love and death as well as reflecting on her prolific The Artist is Present, the biggest exhibition of performance art in New York's Museum of Modern Art's history.
The intimate portrait was filmed at the site of the future institute, a breathtaking building in Hudson, USA, two hours north of Manhattan. The 20,000-square-foot 1930s-built space was formerly used as a theatre, indoor tennis courts and a large antique emporium. Realised in collaboration with acclaimed architect Rem Koolhaas, the non-profit foundation will be a place where works can be developed and ideas exchanged, "like the Andy Warhol factory without the drugs," she says.
