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MARINA ABRAMOVIC: THE ARTIST IS PRESENT follows the provocative performance artist Marina Abramovic as she prepares for a retrospective at MoMA in New York City, while also taking a closer look at her 40 year career.
Director: Matthew Akers
Share this film. Give others the chance to be inspired by this amazing artist.
Consider donating to the Marina Abramovic Institute that works for the preservation and expansion of performance art.
Mentor an artist. You could do this personally or pool together resources from your doc film club to help mentor an artist you believe in, financially or in other ways.
Take the time to seek out artists who are working in your local community. Attend their shows and take friends or family along. The discussions that follow are sure to be enlivening.
Explore your own inner artist by taking an art class or joining your local theatre group.
“Mr. Akers has performed a valuable service for both the artist and the public in presenting a persuasive answer to the question that still plagues art that creates events and experiences rather than paintings and sculptures: Is it really art at all? ”
Read the full review at The New York Times.
Reddit’s famous “Ask Me Anything” invites its users to do just that and often results in fascinating revelations- find out what readers wanted to know about Marina, from whether or not she a vampire to if she is still in love with former partner Ulay.
She is considered one of the world’s most influential living artists. Want to get to know her more? Read her full artist profile on Artsy.
Listen to our playlist with music from the film on Spotify.
Read The New Yorker’s in depth profile on Marina’s history and art:
“She has screamed until she lost her voice, danced until she collapsed, and brushed her hair until her scalp bled…What makes [her work] art? Context and intention, she said: ‘The sense of purpose I feel to do something heroic, legendary, and transformative; to elevate viewers’ spirits and give them courage. If I can go through the door of pain to embrace life on the other side, they can, too.'”
“Watching the documentary, I thought: This is the moment in which we live. Alienated, unmoored, we seek our salvation, one by one, from the artist who brings us the comforting news: I see you. I weep when you weep. The mystery, and the miracle, is that you exist.”
Read this fascinating essay here.
Follow your intuition. Have courage. Do what you imagine. And always be completely present in the moment. Marina Abramović on what it really means to be an artist: “A great artist has to be ready to fail.”
Watch on the Louisiana Channel now.
New to the world of performance art?
Check out this list which gives a great overview of this unique art form’s historical moments.
Fellow performance artist Laurie Anderson interviews Marina Abramovic, revealing a beautiful friendship:
“Marina can actually transform and direct thoughts. She understands and uses the ecstatic. And she creates transformation out of the simplest materials, featuring her own body. An intensely physical person, she combines it with the spiritual in a completely unique way.”
Read about it here.
"The film gives us a full sense of a personality and intelligence so riveting that we begin to comprehend why all those hundreds of thousands lined up at the MoMA."
San Francisco Chronicle
"A portrait of an artist whose life and work intertwine in ways even more compelling than might be imagined."
Los Angeles Times
