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Posthuman Spiritualities in Contemporary Performance pp 29–67Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Reciprocating the Gaze of Others: The Artist Is Present by Marina Abramović

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Abstract

This chapter looks at the participative performance piece The Artist is Present, realized by Marina Abramović in 2010 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA). It examines the devising tools employed by Abramović to set up the performance within the The Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium of the MoMA, and the processes that transformed this location into a place of worship. The video-documentation of Tornado (2000–2010), realized by the Belgian artist, Francis Alÿs, is utilized to understand Abramović’s creative approach in delivering an emotionally charged combination of participation and distance, immediacy and detachment. In addition, the practice of reciprocal gazing is closely analysed as a technology that if sustained for a certain amount of time, can transform vision into fluid, performative images and, at the same time, offer an unspoken intimate experience of resonance between two human beings interacting in silence.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Drama, Dance and Performance Studies, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK

    Silvia Battista

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  1. Silvia Battista
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Correspondence to Silvia Battista .

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Battista, S. (2018). Reciprocating the Gaze of Others: The Artist Is Present by Marina Abramović. In: Posthuman Spiritualities in Contemporary Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89758-5_2

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