Marina Abramović

Performance art pioneer who redefined the boundaries of body and endurance

Marina Abramović (b. 1946) transformed performance art from a niche avant-garde practice into a globally recognized medium. Her 1974 work Rhythm 0 shocked audiences by allowing strangers to interact with her body using 72 objects—including roses and a loaded gun—for six hours. This dangerous experiment in trust and human behavior became a landmark in conceptual art.

Abramović’s 1988 The Great Wall Walk saw her and collaborator Ulay start from opposite ends of China’s Great Wall, meeting halfway to break up—a poetic metaphor for failed relationships. But her most famous piece, 2010’s The Artist Is Present at MoMA, redefined audience participation. Sitting silently for 736 hours, she locked eyes with 1,500 strangers, many moved to tears—an unprecedented fusion of art and communal catharsis.

What makes Abramović make a difference is her radical approach to the artist-audience relationship. She founded the Marina Abramović Institute in 2007, training participants in her ‘Abramović Method’—prolonged immobility, sensory deprivation, and heightened awareness. Critics argue this blurs art and spiritual practice, but her influence is undeniable: Jay-Z parodied her in a 2013 music video, while celebrities like James Franco study her methods.

From cutting a communist star into her stomach (1973’s Thomas Lips) to living three days with a skeleton (2002’s The House With the Ocean View), Abramović turns pain and vulnerability into universal language. Her work challenges passive consumption, insisting that true art requires mutual risk—a philosophy that continues inspiring new generations.