Marina Abramovich Wins Panorama Audience Award

EYES IN Magazine Editor-in-Chief Vivian Van Dijk recently attended the premiere of the documentary Marina Abramovich at Berlinale - The Artist is Present. The film director managed to show all the sides of an intensive artistic life that Marina Abramovich has created by being herself.

A brilliant piece of work of a brilliant artist in where a documentary shows the road of an artist that has given shape to a new meaning of what art is about.

Art is for everybody, Marina Abramovic let you taste, smell, see and experience it to a higher spirtual level. The film director Matthew Akers managed to show all the sides of an intensive artistic life that Marina Abramovic has created by being herself performing what art can be or just what art is.

The documentary does not only let you witness a lifelong devotion to art by Marina Abramovic, but also let the viewer share the fruits of artistic meaning for our spirits.

It was more than a pleasure to listen to Marina Abramovich, the director Matthew Akers and Ulay life in Berlin after the premiere. Watching the documentary and the Q&A afterwards has been a once in a lifetime experience that stays on many levels with me. Thank you very much

A brilliant piece of work of a brilliant artist in where a documentary shows the road of an artist that has given shape to a new meaning of what is art about. Art is for everybody, Marina Abramovich let you taste, smell, see and experience it to a higher spirtual level.

A moving documentary by Matthew Akers – so moving it won Panorama Audience award – follows Marina Abramovic, pioneer of performance art, as she prepares for the most important performance celebrating her career so far – The Artist Is Present at MoMA, New York.

A retrospective at MoMA is the most exhilarating milestone for any living artist, and Marina decided to mark hers by …being  there herself throughout the whole opening time of the exhibition, 14th March to 31th May in 2010, sitting on a chair all day without eating, drinking or even changing position. Never drawing a distinction between art and life, it is only logical that this seductive, fearless, outrageous and controversial Yugoslavian chose to actually become her self-portrait and be the making of her own myth. Any of the visitors could have encountered her eye to eye, and spent as much time as they wanted sitting on a chair in front of her.

The exhibition quickly became extremely popular, with visitors queuing up to 20 hours to face the controversial performer, and often bursting into tears straight away influenced by the gravity of this intense experience. For Marina herself, it was a chance to finally announce performance art as a legitimate mainstream practice; after 40 years of facing skepticism about the artistic merit of her work, she says she’s tired of the ‘alternative’ label: ‘I’m 63! I don’t want to be alternative anymore!’

The film itself – for which to make both MoMA and Marina granted total access – weaves interviews with her collaborators, commentators, friends, fans and husbands together with the archival footage of Abramovic’s early works.

The documentary is by a large part a glorification of her image, and some interesting moments of her preparation, precise difficulties of sitting in the same position for three months and casual disruptions of performance are left in the margins in order not to pollute the illusion, or destroy the emotional effectiveness of the film. However, it is interesting for showing how the stardom of the artist affects some people, and what a phenomenal reaction direct contact with the star elicits.

If you know little about performing, or about Marina herself – watch this film, it will show you the power of art and change your understanding of it.