Portrait photograph by Melanie Dunea
Marina Abramovi? has been tortured and almost killed, by her own audiences, for the sake of her art. She has also redefined the genre and democratised it. The world?s most celebrated performance artist, whose works span five decades, speaks to Darius Sanai ahead of a major retrospective at London?s Royal Academy
In The Marina Abramovi? Method, a board game-style card set recently issued by the world?s most celebrated performance artist, you are told to spend an hour writing your first name, without pen leaving paper; walk backwards with a mirror for up to three hours; open and close a door repeatedly for three hours; and explore a space, blindfolded and wearing noise-cancelling headphones, for an hour. Some of the instructions, given on large, Monopoly-style cards, are more onerous: swim in a freezing body of water; move in slow motion for two hours. But none of them come anywhere close to asking users to inflict on themselves the suffering and danger Abramovi? has put herself under over five decades of pushing the boundaries of art. As she explains below, the Method was intended to take its users away from their phones, and put people in contact with themselves, inspired by her own journey, over 50 years, to understand her own body and mind. Purchasers of the card set can be grateful that Abramovi? does not suggest they train to become her. The New York-based artist has been lacerated, tortured, cut, stabbed, asphyxiated, rendere...