Perception of Performance Art
Marina Abramović is present
Book
The first Russian book on performance art, this publication explores the fundamental questions of the genre and the ways it is perceived by audiences, artists, and institutions. Drawing on seven years of international field research and the work of Marina Abramović—one of the defining figures of contemporary art—it examines the cultural and emotional mechanisms through which performance is experienced and understood.
By transforming the role of the audience and expanding our understanding of the boundaries and languages of immaterial art, performance turns the spectator into an accomplice. It continues to confront us with questions of physicality, time, space, taboo, boredom, nakedness, identity, empathy, and fear.
In contemporary culture, the term “performance” is used in a wide range of contexts and often remains contested. Questions about the nature of performance art and the ways it is perceived are as relevant to the general public as they are to the professional community.
For more than fifty years, Marina Abramović has played a pivotal role in shaping and popularizing what is now considered "classic" performance art. Using the body and the mind as her primary artistic media, she has defined performance through two key concepts—“energy dialogue” and “charismatic space”—while continually expanding its functions and possibilities. As Abramović herself has observed: “I so tire of seeing people walk quickly through a gallery, run by a few works of art and walk out the door in five seconds with their cell phone in their hand as they tweet about what they’ve just seen... I believe we need to reclaim time. Long-duration art has the power to change your mind.”
The Reception of Performance Art. Marina Abramović Is Present examines how performance art is received, interpreted, and experienced within contemporary culture. The book explores the communicative dimensions of performance, traces the historiography and defining principles of classic performance art, reflects on the figure of the performance artist, distinguishes performance art from actionism, and considers how an unexpected encounter with an artwork can transform a person's life.
The faster performance art evolves, the harder it becomes to preserve its authenticity. Yet its essence remains the same: classical performance art is always about the human being. I describe it as an art of “double anthropocentrism.”
In conversation with Irena Orlov