Report from Marina Abramovich's exhibition. Experiments with an open final
- Anna Yakusheva
- Feb 8
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 15
In early September, a loud announcement appeared in the poster of London events - for the first time the Royal Academy of Arts will present the first solo review in the UK of the works of the world-famous Serbian performative artist Marina Abramovich.
She is known for the fact that her performances have never been a simple theatrical production, where all actions are known in advance.
All Abramovich does - is experiments with an open final. Often these experiments were really dangerous.
A closed conference was timed to the opening of the exhibition, tickets for which were sold out at lightning speed. The exhibition presented her works over the entire 50-year career, including photographs of innovative performances, video art and installations.
It is also planned to show four landmark performances, which will be performed live by other authors. They will change throughout the exhibition, adding an additional layer to the context.
I was lucky enough to get to the exhibition and see her two performances. I want to share my impressions of one of them.
When I entered the first exhibition hall, where there was a video presentation and installation of the famous performance "Rhythm 0", I felt the incredible power and courage of its productions. I was shocked and at the same time delighted with how her works can express what cannot be said in words, expand consciousness and awaken inner and, perhaps, hidden states.
This was followed by the performance "Imponderabilia" ("Random Factors"), which was a passage to the main exhibition halls. Each of the spectators who wanted to get into the following exhibition halls was put in a situation of forced ethical choice:
Firstly, to pass or not to pass through the gap between two naked people, and, secondly, to which of the performers to face.
I hesitated for a while, like many visitors, considering it a very erotic and even personal moment. But still I went through and experienced a lot of personal feelings and states, which are now traced in my works.
I believe that this performance is about courage, about true self-acceptance. For me, this is a symbol of rebirth, because, squiezing and touching completely foreign bodies, you begin to feel the feeling of pressure that a baby tends to experience, going out into the world through the birth canal.
That's why Marina Abramovich's performances are silent. It immerses the viewer in his own space of the soul through the supersensual, doing it in a very peculiar, but socially understandable form.
And I wholeheartedly recommend to visit the exhibition to everyone who is looking for their own way of reuniting with themselves!
Photo from exhibition
