watching me sit here bolt upright and cry
I am totally fascinated by Marina Abramović's The Artist Is Present at MoMA. It's a performance art piece in which Abramović sits at a table in the middle of a gallery. She is silent, wearing some sort of long tunic dress that exposes only her face and hands. Her hair is braided and falls over one shoulder. Museum guests are invited to sit across from her and look at her. She looks back. There are three rules for guests: no talking, no movement, and no putting anything on the table. Abramović maintains eye contact with the visitors, who can stay and stare for as long as they want. Some people last two minutes; others for hours.
A lot of people cry.
You can watch a live feed during museum hours. I haven't had the chance to check this out yet, but I plan to look tomorrow. There are portraits taken of the participants; you can see those on the MoMA Flickr. I've been browsing through the set and I love looking at all those faces, so real and flawed and seriously beautiful.
What is this about? I haven't seen it in person, and I can only guess, but I think it's about intimacy, and intentionality, seeing and being seen. Abramović says she is hoping for an emotional connection to the people she is facing. Obviously a lot of people are feeling something, whether it's exhaustion or self-consciousness or unusual intimacy with a stranger. I wish I could see it. If I were in New York, I'd go in a heartbeat.
I mean, look at this face.
A lot of people cry.
You can watch a live feed during museum hours. I haven't had the chance to check this out yet, but I plan to look tomorrow. There are portraits taken of the participants; you can see those on the MoMA Flickr. I've been browsing through the set and I love looking at all those faces, so real and flawed and seriously beautiful.
What is this about? I haven't seen it in person, and I can only guess, but I think it's about intimacy, and intentionality, seeing and being seen. Abramović says she is hoping for an emotional connection to the people she is facing. Obviously a lot of people are feeling something, whether it's exhaustion or self-consciousness or unusual intimacy with a stranger. I wish I could see it. If I were in New York, I'd go in a heartbeat.
I mean, look at this face.