Overview
She's had seizures on stage, let audiences drink her blood and walked two and a half thousand kilometres along the Great Wall of China. Now, one of the world's most influential performance artists will be the subject of a 2016 career retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
Often called 'the grandmother of performance art', for forty years Marina Abramovic has pushed the boundaries of art and the artist's place in it, often putting her own body on the line in the process. Anytime you hear about Tilda Swinton sleeping in a glass box, or Shia LaBeouf wearing a paper bag on his head, odds are you can thank Abramovic for the inspiration.
The 2016 MCA retrospective will combine photography, video, sculpture, installation and live performance, and feature material from the artist's personal archives that has never been publicly exhibited. We've heard Abramovic's celebrated performance Nightsea Crossing will feature, so get ready for some serious face-offs.
Abramovic will also be in Sydney in June 2015 to perform a brand new piece, as part of the Kaldor Public Art Project organised by millionaire arts philanthropist John Kaldor. Abramovic has previously commented on Australia's influence on her work, after she spent time in the outback developing her ideas with German artist Ulay.
The Serbian-born artist rose to prominence in the 1970s with daring pieces such as Rhythm 0, in which she laid out items including a rose, a feather, honey, a scalpel and a loaded gun, and invited spectators to use them on her in whatever way they wished.
In 2010 she spent more than 700 hours at a table in the atrium of New York's Museum of Modern Art, while members of public took turns sitting opposite her. One of her most high profile visitors was Lady Gaga, with whom Abramovic subsequently collaborated on the singer's third album, ARTPOP.
Image: Lisson Gallery.