On June 11, Marina Abramovic will begin a long-duration performance at Serpentine Gallery titled 512 Hours. For 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, Abramovic will sit in the gallery space with nothing and invite visitors to "come in and peer at her." In a recent interview with The Guardian, Abramovic said "It's the public and me and nothing else...I've never done anything as radical as this. This is as immaterial as you can go."
The artist told the publication that she is on strict diet and will be leaving for Brazil to meet "some sort of shamanic adviser," because she "has to be fit, both mentally and physically" for the Serpentine Gallery performance. "You have to be in a state in which you are completely secure about your ability create this kind of charismatic space," said the artist, who also revealed that she has been missing sleep because of the "total panic" she feels about the upcoming performance.
A major concern that Abramovic has about 512 Hours is the unpredictable audience in Britain. "Working with the British public is particularly hard," she confessed to TheGuardian. "They're very sarcastic. They're easily bored. They don't want to be involved in anything that might embarrass them, or make fun of them. And that's a huge challenge." The journalist conducting the interview, Emma Brockes, shares an example of the potential cruelty of the British people: "She is perhaps remembering what happened to David Blaine when he suspended himself in a Perspex box above the Thames all those years ago and was rewarded with jeers and people chucking bottles. But Abramović does not belong in his corny showbiz category. There is no illusion in what she does; when she cuts herself, it's real. The whole point is it's real."
Despite the fears and challenges, Marina Abramovic, the self-proclaimed "warrior of art," plans to move forward with the performance and is reportedly planning another for September at Sean Kelly Gallery, as well as a Guggenheim-hosted event for her 70th birthday. To read more of the interview, click the link below.
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[via The Guardian]
