MoMA - Marina Abramović

The Abramović exhibition at the MoMA was an overall great show in terms of display (showing her documentation and history) as well as replicating her past works, which is unusual for a performance artist. I really appreciating the theme of her work: bringing the artist in contact with the audience. Usually an artist is just a name on a work, something intangible to the viewer, but Abramović's work transcends that boundary and allows common people to interact with her. Although I'm not sure how to explain it, I can say I felt that she had an appreciation and connection with her audience. Some artists I tend to think don't want to meet the people who view their work.

One of my favorite works (of her new media type) was the video in which different women ran around in the rain exposing themselves, and men 'copulated' with the ground. At first I thought it was a bit bizarre, but I found it interesting she drew upon her Slavic heritage. The videos were aligned adjacently to each other, and they all fit together well. I didn't find the videos to be long, boring, or too abstract to watch, they were straightforward. The video of the women also captured their emotion in the same way the photographs of Abramović do, that is, with a subtly of sadness or hysteria of someone on the brink.

I understood the concept of literally acting out an old tradition of the Balkans. Though I'm not sure where she was going with it. Her other works focused on communism in Yugoslavia, so I would guess that it would go in that direction as well. One of her other works I really liked was the installation of the three rooms with the ladders made from knives. I understood it to be sort of an allegory of regimentation that the communist society forced people into. Everything from emotion to physical needs had a quota.