In addition to the most famous performances, on display sculptures and installations too
Stories of bodies. Pages and canvases instead of flesh, ink and painting instead of blood: the vicissitudes of those who preceded us come mostly written or drawn. Thus, it is natural to confuse the story of a person who is in that confused point beyond space and time, beyond the fog of memory, with the story of his mind. Described thoughts, also described her actions, only a spell, that illusion that we call art, can simulate the presence of those who are no longer there. Christian art, Catholic one in particular - especially in Italy - reminds us instead that the story of a person is also, and perhaps above all, that of his body: the absent body of the Saviour at the dawn of the resurrection, the body transubstantiated in the bread during the Eucharist, the body of each of us (for those who believe) in the twilight horizon of the resurrection. The complexion, the oil on tempera, the perspective, endless debates on imitation, are not basically attempts to answer a question: how to reify the real presence of those who are no longer there? How to transform absence into presence?
HER ART SINCE THE FIRST PERFORMANCES IS THE STORY OF A BODY, IN PARTICULAR HERS
L’incarnato, l’olio su tempera, la prospettiva, infiniti dibattiti sull’imitazione, non sono in fondo che tentativi di rispondere a una domanda: come reificare la presenza reale di chi non c’è più? Come trasformare l’assenza in presenza?
Marina Abramovic ́, a volte in modo esplicito, altre implicito, ha da sempre attinto a piene mani dall’iconografia cristiana. In alcuni casi, addirittura, le sue performance sembrano seguire le orme di alcune mistiche, come Caterina da Siena o Angela da Foligno. Le visioni e le estasi di quest’ultima furono raccontate e raccolte in un volume dal titolo significativo, Il Libro dell’Esperienza. La parola esperienza racconta tutta la difficoltà di parlare di qualcosa che si sta vivendo: come rompere il muro che separa chi sta vivendo l’esperienza, chi la sta raccontando, da chi la sta ricevendo in modo mediato? Come parlare di un corpo che non si può toccare? Storie, appunto; storie che a volte sono racconti, mentre altre sono esperienze vissute.
ALREADY WITH HER PERFORMANCE THE ARTIST IS PRESENT SHE SEEMS TO TEST THE LIMITS OF HER EXPERIENCE AND HER TRANSMISSIBILITY
Marina Abramovic ́, sometimes explicitly, sometimes implicitly, has always drawn heavily from Christian iconography. In some cases, her performances seem to follow in the footsteps of some mystics, such as Caterina da Siena or Angela da Foligno. The visions and ecstasies of the latter were recounted and collected in a volume with the significant title, The Book of Experience.
The word experience tells the whole difficulty of talking about something that you are experiencing: how to break the wall that separates those who are living the experience, who are telling it, from those who are receiving it in a mediated way?
THE PERFORMANCES OF THE EXHIBITION WILL BE PERIODICALLY CHANGED, THANKS TO YOUNG ARTISTS TAUGHT BY ABRAMOVIC ́ HERSELF
How to talk about a body that can not be touched? Stories, in fact; stories that sometimes are tales, while others are lived experiences. Story of a body, in particular: hers. Since her first performances, such as Rhythm 0, in which viewers were invited to interact freely with her while she tried to reify her presence objectifying herself, up to the famous The Artist is Present, Abramovic ́'s art seems to test the limits of experience and its transmissibility. With the eponymous retrospective at the Royal Academy in London, Marina Abramovicˇ, from September 24rd to January 1st, works not strictly related to the performances can be seen, such as sculptures and installations. Above all, the performances of the exhibition will be periodically changed, thanks to young artists taught by Abramovic ́ herself.
Images provided directly by the press office of the Royal Academy of Arts in London for the Marina Abramovic ́ exhibition review – 23 September 2023/01 January 2024.
