Marina Abramovic

Marina Abramovi? is a Serbian performance artist born on November 30, 1946, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). She is renowned for her pioneering work in performance art, where she utilizes her own body to explore themes of endurance, pain, and the relationship between performer and audience. Often referred to as the "grandmother of performance art," Abramovi?'s career spans over five decades, during which she has challenged conventional boundaries and redefined the possibilities of artistic expression.

Early Life and Education

Born into a politically active family—her parents, Vojin and Danica Abramovi?, were Yugoslav Partisans during World War II—Marina was raised in an environment that valued discipline and resilience. She spent her early childhood with her deeply religious grandmother, which influenced her later works that often incorporate ritualistic elements. Abramovi? studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade from 1965 to 1970 and later at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia, from 1972 to 1975.

Artistic Career and Notable Works

Abramovi?'s performances often involve intense physical challenges and have included:

  • Rhythm 10 (1973): Utilizing ten knives and two tape recorders, she played a Russian game by stabbing between her fingers, recording the sounds, and attempting to replicate them.

  • Rhythm 2 (1974): In this piece, she ingested medication to induce muscle contractions, losing control of her body while remaining conscious, exploring the limits of physical and mental endurance.

  • The Artist Is Present (2010): During a 736-hour performance at the Museum of Modern Art, she sat silently across from museum visitors, establishing a profound connection through eye contact.

Her collaboration with German artist Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen) from 1976 to 1988 produced significant works exploring themes of duality and unity. One of their most iconic performances involved walking toward each other from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China and meeting in the middle to say goodbye.

Recent Endeavors

In 2025, Abramovi? premiered her most ambitious work to date, Balkan Erotic Epic, in Manchester. This immersive production features 70 performers and reinterprets ancient Balkan rituals tied to fertility and spirituality, aiming to challenge modern taboos around eroticism by presenting it as a profound life force rather than pornography. The production is scheduled for international tours in Barcelona, Berlin, New York, and Hong Kong.

Legacy and Influence

Throughout her career, Marina Abramovi? has received numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 1997, the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts in 2021, and the Praemium Imperiale in 2025. She continues to inspire artists and audiences worldwide with her fearless exploration of the human condition and her unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of art.

For more information on Marina Abramovi?'s work and upcoming projects, visit her official website: .

Marina Abramovi?'s Latest Artistic Endeavors
Articles by the author

I believe so much in the power of performance I don't want to convince people. I want them to experience it and come away convinced on their own.

Marina Abramovic

If you're a baker, making bread, you're a baker. If you make the best bread in the world, you're not an artist, but if you bake the bread in the gallery, you're an artist. So the context makes the difference.

Marina Abramovic

From the very early stage when I started doing performance art in the '70s, the general attitude - not just me, but also my colleagues - was that there should not be any documentation, that the performance itself is artwork and there should be no documentation.

Marina Abramovic

My mother and father had a terrible marriage. They celebrated their wedding anniversary one year with their friends. Why did they celebrate? Maybe because they had lasted so many years without killing each other.

Marina Abramovic

I was friends with Susan Sontag the last four years of her life. She had this amazing charisma and so much energy, but she had a sad little funeral in Montparnasse in Paris.

Marina Abramovic

I was friends with Susan Sontag the last four years of her life. She had this amazing charisma and so much energy, but she had a sad little funeral in Montparnasse in Paris. It was rainy. It was all wrong. And I was thinking, 'God, she loved life so much.'

Marina Abramovic

Time is an illusion. Time only exists when we think about the past and the future. Time doesn't exist in the present here and now.

Marina Abramovic

I want people to come to me open and vulnerable. When they come to the gallery, they have to leave their watches, their computers, their Blackberrys, iPads, iPhones, because we are so incredibly used to technology, and I wanted to remove that.

Marina Abramovic

Happiness is such a good state, it doesn't need to be creative. You're not creative from happiness, you're just happy. You're creative when you're miserable and depressed. You find the key to transform things. Happiness does not need to transform.

Marina Abramovic

Your ego can become an obstacle to your work. If you start believing in your greatness, it is the death of your creativity.

Marina Abramovic

You can't choreograph death, but you can choreograph your funeral.

Marina Abramovic

I face so much jealousy, and I am incredibly upset about it.

Marina Abramovic

Because of technology, we don't develop telepathy. We don't use telepathy, but use, you know, the mobile phones. Why?

Marina Abramovic

If you're a woman, it's almost impossible to establish a relationship. You're too much for everybody. It's too much. The woman always has to play this role of being fragile and dependent. And if you're not, they're fascinated by you, but only for a little while. And then they want to change you and crush you. And then they leave.

Marina Abramovic