The Artist is Present
By Marina Abramović
With Maria José Arjona, Brittany Bailey, John Bonafede, Lydia Brawner, Rachel Brennecke/Bon Jane, Rebecca Brooks, Isabella Bruno, Hsiao Chen, Rebecca Davis, Angela Freiberger, Kennis Hawkins, Michael Helland, Igor Josifov, Elana Katz, Cynthia Koppe, Heather Kravas, Gary Lai, Abigail Levine, Jacqueline Lounsbury, Isabelle Lumpkin, Elke Luyten, Alexander Lyle, Justine Lynch, Tom McCauley, Nick Morgan, Andrew Ondrejcak, Tony Orrico, Will Rawls, Matthew Rogers, George Emilio Sanchez, Ama Saru, Jill Sigman, Maria S.H.M., Layard Thompson, Amelia Uzategui Bonilla, Deborah Wing-Sproul, Yozmit, and Jeramy Zimmerman

MoMA, March 14 to May 31, 2010 (New York)

This performance retrospective traces the prolific career of Marina Abramović (Yugoslav, b. 1946) with approximately fifty works spanning over four decades of her early interventions and sound pieces, video works, installations, photographs, solo performances, and collaborative performances made with Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen). In an endeavor to transmit the presence of the artist and make her historical performances accessible to a larger audience, the exhibition includes the first live re-performances of Abramović’s works by other people ever to be undertaken in a museum setting. In addition, a new, original work performed by Abramović will mark the longest duration of time that she has performed a single solo piece. All performances, one of which involves viewer participation, will take place throughout the entire duration of the exhibition, starting before the museum opens each day and continuing until after it closes, to allow visitors to experience the timelessness of the works. A chronological installation of Abramović’s work will be included on the sixth floor of the Museum, revealing different modes of representing, documenting, and exhibiting her ephemeral, time-based, and media-based works. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue that includes an audio recording of the artist’s voice guiding the reader through the publication.

Imponderabilia (originally performed by Marina Abramovic/Ulay, 1977), as reperformed by Michael Helland and Juri Onuki for Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (2010), The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Courtesy Marina Abramovic and Sean Kelly Gallery. © 2010 Marina Abramovic. Photo © 2010 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Jonathan Muzikar

Abramovic Reperformers photo by Vicente de Paulo