So I clicked on Jillian Steinhauer’s post — “Is Marina Abramović Trying to Create a Performance Art Utopia?” — and the first thing that popped into my head was, “Why does it look like a suburban public library, circa 1962?” What I’m talking about is the architectural rendering from none other than OMA’s leading lights, Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas, gracing the head of Steinhauer’s article, which was published by Hyperallergic on Monday.
Nearly 150 people gathered in MoMA PS1′s performance dome this morning to hear Marina Abramović present plans for her new museum dedicated to performance art in Hudson, NY. As the crowd took their places on and around the oversize red ottomans filling the space, people gazed at and stuck their heads inside the glowing architectural model set up in front (it features a hole in the center, for peering inside). Within a few minutes, MoMA and PS1 curator Klaus Biesenbach introduced the woman who must be the only celebrity performance artist in the world. “If it wasn’t for Marina,” he said, “I expected 10 guests or so.” (Although free pastries and coffee always help.)
I was reminded yesterday afternoon, while walking through mazes of pop-up galleries, tent-like hallways, magazine stands and oddly placed sculptures just asking to be tripped over, that the contemporary wing of the Armory Show — which runs through Sunday at Piers 92 and 94 — means different things to different people.
The idea of an art meme feels counterintuitive: art is supposed to reflect deep issues about society and self, or at least be technically complex, while memes are quick hacks about cats, shit people say and dancing Obamas. But this past year, the internet has been seeing a ton of new memes that involve the arts.
The debate surrounding performance art and the rights of artists has started to grow past the original controversy initiated by Marina Abramović’s gala performance for LA MOCA earlier this month. Now, three reperformers who took part in MoMA’s Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present retrospective last year have come forward to support the efforts to reexamine why major art institutions don’t pay adequately for the time and efforts of performers and reperformers.
We now know the identity of the artist who initially wrote Yvonne Rainer to complain of the conditions of the Marina Abramović performance during the LA MOCA gala. In a letter titled “Open Letter to Artists” published by the Performance Club, performer Sara Wookey explains her motivate for initially auditioning for the work …
The final text and signatories of Yvonne Rainer’s letter to Jeffrey Deitch/MOCA protesting Marina Abramović’s performance for the MOCA gala is on the Artforum website. There are 50 signatures on the letter.
Since Marina Abramović was picked to provide the entertainment for LA MOCA’s upcoming gala we’ve all been wondering what the performance art queen would conjure up to do her bidding. Now, we kind of know and it raises some serious questions, namely, is performance art ever an excuse for labor abuse?
Pippin Barr works and teaches at the Center for Computer Game Research at IT University in Copenhagen, and readers of Hyperallergic will know him as the guy who created “The Artist Is Present” video game, which has already become an online sensation. I caught up with Barr online to ask him about “The Artist Is Present,” the popular fascination with Abramović and how the experience mimics some aspects of the real thing.
Didn’t get your chance to sit with Marina Abramović during her The Artist Is Present performance at MoMA? Don’t worry, Copenhagen-based Pippin Barr has given you a second chance in the form of The Artist Is Present: The Video Game. He’s also updated the whole thing so you have to pay $25 to get into MoMA, take about a hard dose of reality. Ouch!
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