Marina Abramovic u Torinu

na srpskom
By Jasmina Tesanovic
Dozvolicu sebi emotivnost s obzirom da je Marina Abramovic, na kraju svog predavanja u Torinu o svom zivotnom delu, pustila poneku suzu.
Poverovovala sam joj: svaku rec koju je rekla, svaku suzu koju je pustila: dosta reci i ne previse suza. Ne samo sto sam joj poverovala vec sam se i identifikovala s njom, s njenim pokretima, porukama. srpskim akcentom na savrsenim engleskim recnikom. Njenom globalizovanom govoru, nomadizmu i naravno sva ta mesta i ljude koje imamo zajednicke: od imaginarnih do zivih. Cak i neke bitne razlike su me priblizile njenim emocijama i radu.
Ova svetski poznata umetnica koja ce sledece godine imati veliku retrospektivnu izlozbu u MOMA-i je zaista u zadivljujucoj formi: fizickoj i mentalnoj. Toliko sam cula o njoj od ogovaranja to umetnickih prikaza! Pratila sam njen rad sve ove godine, jos od sedamdesetih u Beogradu kad je Beograd bio konceptualna vazna scena i kad sam ja zivela u Rimu, a i kasnije u italijanskoj ludnici gde su se umetnicke ideje desavale i razresavale brze od realnog zivota. Ali u Torinu, u GAM-u ( renoviranoj galeirji moderne umetnosti) ovaj skladni iskreni i emotovni guru i perfomans bomba nije bila osoba koju sam ocekivala. Bila je daleko vise, daleko zivlja i zanimljivija. Kao da je njeno mocno delo samo senka njene mocne licnosti.
Govorila je o svom detinjstvu i ranim umetnickim danima. Govorila je o 12 godina ljubavi i rada sa Ulajom, holandskim umetnikom; pokazala nam je kako je nastavila posle raskida s njim na vrhu velikog kineskog zida, napustajuci umetnost performansa na neko vreme. Pokazala nam je muzicke perfomanse koji su usledili sa jugoslovenskim pesmama, pesmama zemlje koja vise ne postoji.
I na kraju je zavrsila svoj govor divnom optimisticnom pesmom koju je otpevala devojcica s nadom iz jedne raspadnute zemlje kakva je danas moderna Srbija.
Rekla nam je da ne voli tehnologiju, misli da bi ljudi trebalo da koriste telepatiju a ne telefoniju, da izostre nivo trascendentalne svesti i duhovnosti. Njeno orudje ( izmedju ostalih) za umetnost i znanje su bol, izazvana glad, zedj i iznurivanje tela da bi se oprobale njegove granice i dostigla trascendencija. Kako zvuci balkanski globalno!
Sav njen rad vrti se oko tela, to njeno telo koje je prozivelo velike izazove sve ove godine: secenje, sibanje, izgladnjivanje, javno eksponiranje...linija razdvajanja izmedju suhovnosti i iskusenja je gotovo nevidljiva, put zivota je smrt. Umetnica valja da bude spremna da umre i da organziuje sopstveni pogreb, to je poslednji perfomans njenog zivota. Baka performansa kako naziva samu sebe, danas predaje svuda i s ponosom: veruje u prenosenje znanja i podstrekivanje mladih da rade perfomanse, da naprave kontakt izmedju njihovih tela i emocija i publike. Perfomansi se ne vezbaju kao pozoriste, kao perfomer ili postojis ili ne.
Zbog toga je Marina Abramovic kupila pozoriste dva sata severno od Menhetena u Hadson Njujorku, gde ce da otvori ne profitnu organizaciju, Fondacija Marina Abramovic za ocuvanje umetnosti perfomansa. Koristice prostor da radi, da razvija ideje ukljucujuci i video i postprodukciju, kao i jos jedan posed gde ce umetnici moci da zive.
Kako god da njena umentost moze danas da izgleda i zvuci u ovom tehnoloskom posthumanom dobu, njeno ostro i zivo prisustvo, njen manifesto umetnosti u kome trazi od umetnike da budu skromni i iskreni u sluzbi covecanstva, govori nam da valja racunati na nase bake onda kad kao Marina setaju kineskim zidom, dozvoljavaju da im publika sece telo, ili zive godinu dana u pustinji.
Pre niz godina, Marina Abramovic je izvela perfomans u Amsterdamu u kojem je zauzela mesto prostitutke u izlogu a prostitutka njeno u umetnickoj galeriji: ucinila je to da bi se identifikovala sa dnevnom stvarnoscu te zene. Onima koji sumnjaju u znacaj njene umetnosti, savetujem da ucine nesto slicno: zamenite mesta sa osobom kojoj zelite da razumete . Na samo jedan dan.

in English
Marina in Torino

I will allow myself to be emotional since Marina Abramovic, at the end of her Torino lecture about her life work, was in tears.

I believed her: every word she said, every tear she shed. Many words, not too many tears. More than believing. I identified with her, her movements, her words, her Serbian accent onto perfect English vocabulary. Her globalized discourse, her nomadism and all the people and places we had in common: imaginary and real. Even the differences brought me closer to her emotions and her work.

This 63 year old world famous artist, who will next year have a big retrospective show in MOMA, a well deserved one, is in impressive shape: physical and intellectual. I've heard so much about her, gossip and artistic reviews. I have followed her work in all these years, from the seventies in Belgrade when Belgrade conceptual scene was hot and I lived in Rome, and then on the Italian conceptual melting pot where art ideas were happening and un-happening at the bigger speed than in real time. But in Torino at GAM, (a renovated gallery of modern art) this graceful, sincere and emotional guru and performance bomb, was not the person I expected. She was so much more, far more alive and kicking. As if her powerful work is only a shadow of her powerful personality.

She spoke of her childhood and early days as an artist. She spoked of her 12 year old love and work with Ulay, the Dutch artist; she showed us how she went on after breaking up with him on the top of the Great Wall of China, abandoning performance art for a while. She showed us musical performances that followed after with Yugoslav songs, songs from a country that does not exist.


Finally she ended her talk with a beautiful optimistic song sung by a young girl: in a down-ridden country that is modern Serbia.

She told us she doesn't not like technology, she thinks people should use telepathy and not telephones, to sharpen the levels of transcendental conscience and spirituality. Her famous tools ( among others) for art and knowledge are pain, self-inflicted hunger, thirst and exhaustion for trying the body, for reaching its limits and experiencing the transcendent. How very Balkanic global!

All her work is centered on body, her body which went through severe trials all these years: cutting, beating starving, public exposure... the dividing line between spirituality and trials is almost invisible, the path of living leads to death. An artist should be prepared to die and prepare her own funeral, that the last performance of her life. The grandmother of performance art, as she calls herself, today is teaching everywhere and proudly: she believes in transmitting knowledge and enhancing young people to perform, to make a contact between their bodies and emotions and those of the audience. Performance needs no rehearsal like theater,as a performer, either you have it or you don't..


For that purpose Marina Abramović purchased a theater two hours north of Manhattan in Hudson, NY, intending to establish the nonprofit organization, Marina Abramović Foundation for Preservation of Performance Art. She will use the space to work, to develop ideas by including video and post-production equipment, and as a second property to house resident artists.

However her art may look or sound today in this new technological posthuman era, her brisk and bright presence, her manifesto of art in which she exhorts artists to be humble and sincere, and servants of humanity, tell us that we should count on our grandmothers: especially when they, like Marina, walk the Chinese walls, let their body be cut by the audience, and live in the desert for a year.

Some years ago, Marina Abramovic made a performance in Amsterdam where she took the place of a prostitute in the window and had the prostitute took her place in the gallery: she did it to identify with the harsh reality of that woman. For those who doubt of the meaning of her art , I suggest that they do the same. Change your place with the person you want to understand. For just one day.