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SEDUCTIVE, FEARLESS, FUNNY, IRONIC… IN ANY CASE, THE SERBIAN PERFORMANCE ARTIST WHO HAS NEVER PASSED UNNOTICED FOR HER NEARLY FORTY-YEAR CAREER. MARINA IS ALWAYS REDEFINING WHAT ART IS WITH HER OWN BODY USING PHYSICAL AND MENTAL LIMITS AS VEHICLE. LAST APRIL SHE PRESENTED THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MARINA ABRAMOVIC IN TEATRO REAL, MADRID. A CO-PRODUCTION WITH MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, WHERE THE PREMIÈRE TOOK PLACE IN SUMMER, ALMOST A YEAR AGO. NOW SHE IS PREPARING OTHER WORLDWIDE DESTINATIONS WITH THIS PIECE AND INTRODUCING HIS LEGACY AS WELL: THE MARINA ABRAMOVIC INSTITUTE (MIA) FOR THE PRESERVATION OF PERFORMANCE ART.
Some days ago, several media from different countries around the world (Bulgaria, Slovakia, Norway, Brazil, Italy and Spain) were sharing coffee and croissants with Marina at tea time just before her making up appointment and other preparations for her evening performance, The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, an Opera piece directed by Bob Wilson with special details that makes it unique. It is thought that he is one of the most innovative an influential figures of the theatre scene.
Talking about the theatre atmosphere, this was the context we could live in the meeting we had with Marina in Teatro Real: a salon with decoration of mid-nineteenth century, red velvet curtains and gold lamps. In this place she let us know a little more about her personality, intimacy, present and future projects. Her body language, eye contact and voice showed us the vitality and enthusiasm she feels with this autobiographical project narrated by the Hollywood actor Willem Dafoe and sung by Antony Hegarty and Svetlana Spajic. But beyond this we could talk about Spanish style of life, beauty, fashion, art, politics, dirty jokes, healthy habits, gardening, daily life anecdotes and more unmentionable things…
‘I work so much with my body, so I have to keep healthier and keep in some kind of shape. This is the reason why I respect nature, the natural system. I think that at least one a year, twice a year, we should have a total cleaning: no food, just do some exercises, go to nature… It’s very important!’
Marina Abramovic
‘So… you think that the basic recipe to create is ‘having a total cleaning’. What does it mean?
Yes, sure. The idea is ‘cleaning the house’, cleaning your body because it’s the only house we have. It’s not an outside house, it’s inside. And in addition to this, as a performance artist you should have much smart self-control, perception, an insurance and passing limits are much more stronger. Then, after this kind of experience you make really a great work of art, because your mind is very clean. It means that a good artist should be preparing itself physically and mentally to find purity. The state of mind is everything! And getting a clean state of mind is very hard. Specially in my case, living in New York which is so polluted with everything. Not just information, style of life, stress… but also it is so polluted because of the sound pollution. There are so many people living in one place, so everything goes through your body, so you have to go to nature. Nature is the key to everything I think. I made a manifesto, an artist’s manifesto in which I’m really saying the artist that they have to go to solitude and experience silence.’
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Wonder Magazine 11
Interview_ Marina Abramovic by Marta Bran_ pp. 50-59_ May / June_ 2012
