Marina Abramović

(Serbian, born 1946)

Marina Abramović is a Serbian artist known for her vanguard performances that use her body both as subject and vehicle. Incorporating performance, sound, video, sculpture, and photography into her practice, Abramović often braves dangerous or grueling situations to investigate sensation and its effects, often with audience participation. “The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind,” she stated. Born on November 30, 1946 in Belgrade, Serbia (former Yugoslavia), Abramović met German performance artist Ulay while living in Amsterdam, the couple continued their collaboration until their separation in the late 1980s. Part of a group of avant-garde artists including Vito Acconci and Chris Burden that experimented with using one’s body as a medium in the 1970s, Abramović pushed physical and mental boundaries to explore themes of emotional and spiritual transfiguration. In 2010, her popular retrospective The Artist is Present was exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art. That same year the author James Wescott released a comprehensive biography on the artist, When Marina Abramović Dies, to critical acclaim. The artist currently lives and works in New York, NY. Her works are held in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Rijksmuseum Twenthe in Enschede, and the Reina Sofia National Museum in Madrid, among others.