watching me sit here bolt upright and cry

[maudgonne]

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

Comments

[calendae]

That sounds exceptionally interesting. If there's one thing I miss about living in a bigger city, it's the museums.

[maudgonne]

Doesn't it? I can't exactly complain about the culture around here, but there's always stuff in New York I want to see. (I don't want to live there, though.)

[calendae]

I'm really excited to move to Philly. They've got some nice places, but most of all there are the chinatown buses for quick trips to DC and NYC if there's something I want to see. I always forget how super close everything on the east coast seems to be.

[maudgonne]

I'm excited for you! When do you go?

I need to take a trip out there this summer.

[nobodygirl]

That's amazing. And fascinating. I so wonder what the experience of those people is.

I went to drama school for years and years and one of the worst and hardest exercises would be to just sit still and make eye contact with our partners. It was terrifying and so many people were unable to do it.

[maudgonne]

I do, too. I like imagining what's going through their heads. I love their faces!

It is a very hard thing! Sometimes even with the people you love.

[georgley]

Yet another reason why I want to go back to New York. I loved MoMA.

[maudgonne]

Me too! I haven't been there in a few years. I want to see some art and some shows.

[smc36]

I think its freaky. She's kind of scary looking. Doubt I'd last very long looking at her.

[maudgonne]

I think the experience might be sort of scary, but I don't think she looks scary at all, just kind of tired and sad. I love her face!

[shiratic]

i am fascinated that you'd go because i don't think i'd ever be able to. placeholder comment for more thoughts later.

[maudgonne]

I am very curious about why you couldn't/wouldn't! It's an experience I would love to have.

[shiratic]

so i wonder whether this is a quirk of mine, or whether it's more general to people, but i think my issue is two-fold. the first thing is that if someone is looking at me for an extended period, unless it's clearly with amusement/fondness or something, i tend to assume i've done something wrong/am in trouble/am about to get yelled at (i think my childhood is showing :)). even though i'd know intellectually that this was non-personal, i think i'd have a continually growing sense of panic being watched like that. the second thing is related, but slightly different - i think i'd have a sense that something was wrong, even if not caused by me, and the sense that i couldn't make it better would freak me out.

any of that make sense?

[maudgonne]

Hmm, yeah, it all makes sense. Your childhood might be showing a little, but I do think the comfort level with that kind of thing is just going to vary a lot. I don't relate to your particular aversion, but it doesn't seem strange to me.

Would you watch other people doing it?