Marina Abramovic
September 15th 2025
Marina Abramović’s work reveals that performance art, in simple terms, is defined by presence, authenticity, and the use of the body as a primary medium. Unlike acting, where illusion is central, Abramovic insists that the performance must be real. In works like The Artist is Present (2010), she used endurance and time, sitting for months in silence to slow down and emphasize being fully present in the moment.
“When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife with ketchup”
Her performances engage directly with audiences, resetting with each new participant and creating profound exchanges that expose “the window of the soul”. Through vulnerability, risk, and spiritual romance, Abramović demonstrates that performance art is about testing the limits and embodying truth.
Performance art resists museum and commercial conventions because it is based on presence, risk, and ephemerality rather than on permanent objects that can be collected or sold. Its live and unpredictable nature challenges the museum’s role as a preserver of art and complicates the market’s demand for commodified works. Marina Abramovic negotiates these challenges by turning the museum space into a site of live encounter, most famously in The Artist Is Present , where the acting is a lot of sitting, and engaging with visitors becomes the artwork itself.
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