Lisson Gallery

Marina Abramović

Since the beginning of her career in Belgrade during the early 1970s, Marina Abramović has pioneered performance as a visual art form. She created some of the most important early works in this practice, including Rhythm 0 (1974), in which she offered herself as an object of experimentation for the audience, as well as Rhythm 5 (1974), where she lay in the centre of a burning five-point star to the point of losing consciousness. These performances married concept with physicality, endurance with empathy, complicity with loss of control, passivity with danger. They pushed the boundaries of self-discovery, both of herself and her audience. They also marked her first engagements with time, stillness, energy, pain, and the resulting heightened consciousness generated by long durational performance.

The body has always been both her subject and medium. Exploring her physical and mental limits in works that ritualise the simple actions of everyday life, she has withstood pain, exhaustion and danger in her quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. From 1975-88, Abramović and the German artist Ulay performed together, dealing with relations of duality. She returned to solo performances in 1989 and for The Artist Is Present (2010) she sat motionless for at least eight hours per day over three months, engaged in silent eye-contact with hundreds of strangers one by one.

Abramović was one of the first performance artists to become formally accepted by the institutional museum world with major solo shows taking place throughout Europe and the US over a period of more than 25 years. Her first European retrospective ‘The Cleaner’ was presented at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden in 2017, followed by presentations at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, Denmark, Henie Onstad, Sanvika, Norway (2017), Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany (2018), Centre of Contemporary Art, Torun (2019), and Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Serbia (2019). The artist's operatic project '7 Deaths of Maria Callas' debuted at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, Germany in 2020, and toured to Palais Garnier, Paris, France (2021); the Greek National Opera, Athens, Greece (2021); Deutsche Oper Berlin, Germany (2022); Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, Italy (2022) and Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain (2023), and will travel to the English National Opera, London, in 2023. In 2023, Abramović will be the first female artist to host a major solo exhibition in the Main Galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Select solo exhibitions include ‘Akış / Flux’, Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Istanbul, Turkey (2020); ‘As One’, NEON + MAI, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece (2017); ‘The Space In Between Marina Abramović and Brazil’, SXSW, Austin, Texas, USA (2016); ‘Terra Comunal – Marina Abramović + MAI’, SESC, Pompeia, São Paulo, Brazil (2015); ‘512 Hours’, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (2014); ‘Holding Emptiness’, Contemporary Art Center, Malaga, Spain (2014); ‘‘The Life and Death of Marina Abramović’ (with Robert Wilson), Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY, USA (2013); ‘Balkan Stories’, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria (2012); ‘The Abramović Method’, Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy (2012); ‘The Artist Is Present’, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, Russia (2011); ‘The Artist is Present’, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA (2010);  and ‘Seven Easy Pieces’ at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA (2005). Abramović has participated in many large-scale international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1976, 1997) and Documenta VI, VII and IX, Kassel, Germany (1977, 1982 and 1992). She has also established the MAI (Marina Abramović Institute) to support the future exploration and promotion of performance art.

 

Recent, current and forthcoming projects

Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (23 September 2023 - 1 January 2024)

 

Gates and Portals

Marina Abramović
Gates and Portals

2022
Installation view, Modern Art Oxford, 2022
Commissioned by Modern Art Oxford

Photo: Thierry Bal

Selenite Portal

Marina Abramović
Selenite Portal

2022
Selenite, Steel, Aluminium, LED
297 x 179 x 68.5 cm
116 7/8 x 70 1/2 x 27 in

Photo: Oak Taylor-Smith

Sleeping Under the Banyan Tree

Marina Abramović
Sleeping Under the Banyan Tree

2010/2022
Pigment print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Ultra
141.5 x 200 cm
55 3/4 x 78 3/4 in
ed. of 3 + 2AP

Energy Hat (Eyes Open)

Marina Abramović
Energy Hat (Eyes Open)

2021/2022
Pigment print on Hahn Photorag Baryta
153.7 x 91.4 x 7.6 cm
60 1/2 x 36 x 3 in
ed. of 5 + 2 APs

7 Deaths of Maria Callas

Marina Abramović
7 Deaths of Maria Callas

2021
Leah Hawkins (Desdemona) and Marina Abramović
Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, Germany

Photo: Wilfried Hösl

Seven Deaths

Marina Abramović
Seven Deaths

2021
Film
1 hour, 50 seconds
ed. of 5 + 2 APs

Seven Deaths

Marina Abramović
Seven Deaths

2021
Film
1 hour, 50 seconds
ed. of 5 + 2 APs

Seven Deaths: The Mirror

Marina Abramović
Seven Deaths: The Mirror

2020/2021
Alabaster, custom light
120 x 101 x 12 cm
47 1/8 x 39 3/4 x 4 5/8 in
ed. of 2 + 1 AP

The Lovers, Great Wall Walk

Marina Abramović
The Lovers, Great Wall Walk

with Ulay
1988/2010
Two-channel video (colour, no sound)
15:45 minutes

Looking at the Mountains

Marina Abramović
Looking at the Mountains

2010
Colour pigment print 160 x 200 cm 63 x 78 3/4 in

The Force

Marina Abramović
The Force

2019
Alabaster, LED lighting component inside 49.5 x 53.5 x 7.8 cm 19 3/8 x 21 x 3 in

Dozing Consciousness (Body)

Marina Abramović
Dozing Consciousness (Body)

2016
Dye sublimation print on aluminium 229.1 x 115.3 cm 90 1/4 x 45 3/8 in

In The Sea of Silence

Marina Abramović
In The Sea of Silence

2013
Fine art pigment print 160 x 213 cm 63 x 83 7/8 in

The Artist is Present

Marina Abramović
The Artist is Present

2010
Performance
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
3 months
image courtesy Marina Abramovic and Sean Kelly Gallery, NY

The Artist is Present

Marina Abramović
The Artist is Present

2010
Performance
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
3 months
image courtesy Marina Abramovic and Sean Kelly Gallery, NY

The Artist is Present

Marina Abramović
The Artist is Present

2010
Performance
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
3 months
image courtesy Marina Abramovic and Sean Kelly Gallery, NY

Portrait with Firewood

Marina Abramović
Portrait with Firewood

2010
Black & white photographic print 136 x 136 cm 53 1/2 x 53 1/2 in

The Kitchen VI From the Series: The Kitchen, Homage to Saint Therese

Marina Abramović
The Kitchen VI From the Series: The Kitchen, Homage to Saint Therese

2009
Black & White Pigment print on cotton paper 136 x 126 cm 53 1/2 x 49 7/8 in

The Kitchen IV

Marina Abramović
The Kitchen IV

2009
From the Series: The Kitchen, Homage to Saint Therese Colour Chromogenic Print 136 x 126 cm 53 1/2 x 49 7/8 in

Still life with Potatoes

Marina Abramović
Still life with Potatoes

2008
Color photographic print 104 x 104 x 6.2 cm 40 x 40 x 2 1/2 in

Portrait with Potatoes

Marina Abramović
Portrait with Potatoes

2008
Colour Chromogenic print 120 x 120 cm 47 1/4 x 47 1/4 in

Portrait with Onions

Marina Abramović
Portrait with Onions

2008
Colour Chromogenic print 120 x 120 cm 47 1/4 x 47 1/4 in

Me and Me

Marina Abramović
Me and Me

2008
Sliver gelatin print 101.6 x 101.6 cm 40 x 40 in + 17.8 cm / 7 in white border

7 Easy Pieces: Entering the Other Side

Marina Abramović
7 Easy Pieces: Entering the Other Side

2005
C-Print 226.1 x 153 cm 89 x 60 1/4 in

Balkan Baroque I

Marina Abramović
Balkan Baroque I

1997
C-Print 124 x 216 cm 48 7/8 x 85 in

White Dragon

Marina Abramović
White Dragon

1989
Oxidized Copper, Obsidiana 250 x 52.3 x 46 cm 98 3/8 x 20 5/8 x 18 in

Art must be beautiful/Artist must be beautiful

Marina Abramović
Art must be beautiful/Artist must be beautiful

1975
Black and white video with sound 23 minutes 36 seconds

Rhythm 0

Marina Abramović
Rhythm 0

1974

Table with 72 objects and slide projector with slides of performance


Rhythm 0

Marina Abramović
Rhythm 0

1974

Table with 72 objects and slide projector with slides of performance


Rhythm 4

Marina Abramović
Rhythm 4

1974
2 Photographic prints and text 166 x 250 x 165.5 cm 65 3/8 x 98 3/8 x 65 1/4 in

Rhythm 10

Marina Abramović
Rhythm 10

1973
21 Silver gelatin prints and text 122.5 x 898 cm 48 1/4 x 353 1/2 in

Dozing Consciousness (Body) - eyes open, 2019

Marina Abramović
Dozing Consciousness (Body) - eyes open, 2019

Dye sublimation print aluminum Image size: 229.1 x 115.3 cm Image size: 90 1/8 x 45 3/8 in

Museum Exhibitions

Exhibitions

  1. Marina Abramović

    Marina Abramović

    28 April – 22 July 2023

  2. Marina Abramović: Seven Deaths

    Marina Abramović: Seven Deaths

    14 September – 17 October 2021

  3. Marina Abramović: Seven Deaths

    Marina Abramović: Seven Deaths

    14 September – 30 October 2021

  4. Marina Abramović – White Space

    Marina Abramović – White Space

    17 September – 1 November 2014

  5. Marina Abramović

    Marina Abramović

    13 October – 13 November 2010

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