Marina Abramovic
Performing arts are art forms in which artists use their bodies or voice to convey artistic expression. It may include forms such as dance, opera, magic, etc.
After watching the documentary film of the great performing artist- Marina Abramovic, I was impressed by her best known piece “The Artist is Present” in which she sat emotionless for months, inviting audience to sit opposite her and make eye contact as long as they wanted. Many of them began spontaneously crying. To be honest, I really want to know what the exact feeling that Marina gave to audience that could make some of them cry. Anyway, her bravest piece, Rhythm 0, was the most impressive one for me.
In Rhythm 0, she told viewers she would not move for hours no matter what they did to her. I saw the version of her being violated, surrounding by various curious audience. I saw the viewers cut her clothes, stuck rose thorns in her stomach, one person even tried to aim a gun at her head. It created an intense and aggressive atmosphere. I could not even breathe. At the time I was watching the video I wondered why she is doing this. Why didn’t she react as self-defense when somebody aimed a gun at her head? Can’t she feel the danger and pain and consequence if the audience didn’t act nicely? But she did not move until the performance was over, whatever the audience did to her, just as she promised. I felt she was unbelievable.
But after that, I figured the performance just showed how easy it is to dehumanize a person who does not fight back, like how destructive methods an officer would use to make the prisoner tell the truth in warfare. As Abramovic said in the interview, ‘What I learned was that…if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you.’ It proved how readily people will harm one another under unusual circumstance.
If I was at the circumstance, right in front of her, what would I do? Probably I would kiss her on the forehead, see if she had any reaction. If no, then I...