Overview
You'll have to stock up on Marina Abramovic wonderment this year at Pier 2/3 and MONA, the Museum of Contemporary Art has cancelled the performance artist's 2016 retrospective exhibition.
Reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Abramovic has attributed the opening of two other exhibitions (a retrospective solo exhibition at MONA called Private Archaeology, running June 13 to October 5, and Kaldor Projects’ Marina Abramovic: In Residence at Pier 2/3 from June 24 to July 5), along with financial reasons, for the closure of the show.
"I'm so sorry," she said. "They say that it is complicated. One reason was there were two exhibitions in Australia. It was too much to make a third one. The trustees they didn't want any more." MCA spokeswoman Myriam Conrie confirmed the closure to SMH, saying, "The MCA had initial discussions with the artist and her studio, but with her other commitments in Sydney and Hobart the show was not viable. No public money was spent."
Abramovic's MCA retrospective was to combine photography, video, sculpture, installation and live performance, and feature material from the artist's personal archives that has never been publicly exhibited. Abramovic's celebrated performance Nightsea Crossing was supposed to feature, with some serious face-offs in store.
Enthusiasts will simply have to get along to Kaldor Public Art Project's Marina Abramovic: In Residence at Pier 2/3 or make their way to Hobart for MONA's Private Archaeology.
Private Archaeology opens at MONA on June 13 and runs through October 5.
Kaldor Public Art Projects’ Marina Abramovic: In Residence at Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay opens June 24 and runs through July 5.
Image: Lisson Gallery.
Words: Shannon Connellan and Tom Clift.