The Guardian summarizes the bizarre exchanges between right-wing U.S. conspiracy theorists, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and Marina Abramovic this week, after a series of leaked emails from the Clinton campaign about an invitation to one of Abramovic’s dinner parties, and documentation of past work by the artist, was hyperbolically interpreted as evidence of satanism and cult rituals inside Clinton’s campaign.  (more…)

Marina Abramovic is interviewed on some of her favorite books and recent reads for the New York Times this month.  “I know that I am reading a powerful book when everything around me disappears and I am unable to put it down until I finish it,” she says.  “A good book can bring you to another state of consciousness and transport you into different times and spaces. I am always searching for that experience of having the reality of the book overpower the reality of my own life.” (more…)

A Dutch court has ordered Marina Abramović to pay her former partner Ulay over €250,000 arising from the sales of collaborative works and a re-enactment of one of their works for Adidas.  “I won the case on the most crucial points,” Ulay says. “The relief was like shedding my skin, physical and mental.  My cancer ordeal was aggressively threatening my life and the massive legal battle with Abramović was threatening my existence. To my opinion, the court verdict was fair and just to the truth.” (more…)

Marina Abramovic and Igor Levit, Goldberg (2015), photo by Marco Anelli

Over the course of the past two years, Marina Abramovic’s work has shifted towards the meditative, and the participatory simultaneously, a seemingly dissonant set of parameters that have resulted in a range of peculiar performances experimenting with sensory deprivation, mediated experiences of space, and gentle brushes with the artist’s person, as she acts as a guide through her own created environments.  Her practice continues this month at the Park Avenue Armory, where the the artist has partnered with pianist Igor Levit for Goldberg, a meditative concert of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. (more…)

An article in The Guardian explores the recent lawsuit filed against Marina Abramovic by her former partner and collaborator Ulay, who claims she has not paid him for the proceeds of their collaborative work over the past several decades, nor has she credited him in writing for their shared pieces.  “The points I’m asking of her are: every six months, a statement on sales and my royalties. And I’m asking for absolute proper mentioning of my name,” he says. “She has deliberately misinterpreted things, or left my name out.” (more…)

Marina Abramovic is in The Guardian this week, reviewing her plans for her own funeral, to take place in the three cities she lived longest: New York, Amsterdam and Belgrade.  “I want to have three Marinas,” she says. “Of course, one is real and two fake because you can’t have three bodies.” (more…)

Marina Abramovic has partnered with Adidas for a recreation of the artist’s Work Relation, ostensibly as a promotional tie-in with the world cup events the brand is currently undertaking.  The video features a group of performers in white lab coats and Adidas sneakers, recreating the piece as the artist looks on. (more…)

Marina Abramovic’s new performance 512 Hours opened yesterday at the Serpentine, with the artist granted free reign to enocunter visitors in the empty gallery space and do as she wishes.  “The idea is that the public are my material, and I am theirs,” she says. “I will open the gallery myself in the morning and close it at 6 p.m. with my key. I want to understand how I can be in the present moment, be with the public.” (more…)

The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, Photo: Joan Marcus Courtesy Park Ave Armory

As the story goes, when artist Marina Abramovic came to legendary stage director Robert Wilson about helping him to stage her funeral onstage, the director only replied, “only if I can stage your life as well.”  So begins the mythology behind The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, the nearly three-hour long performance that just completed its first run of U.S. dates at the Park Avenue Armory in New York.

The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, Photo: Joan Marcus Courtesy Park Ave Armory (more…)

Marina Abramović’s opera, The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, is set to open this December 12th in The Park Armory’s spacious Drill Hall.  Staged by Robert Wilson, the show includes performances by Abramović, playing herself and her mother, and also features performances by Willem Dafoe and Antony.  The show has already garnered an overwhelmingly positive critical response at each of its previous performances, and marks the first time the work will be performed int he US. (more…)

A flash mob in Oslo, led by artist Marina Abramovic was shut down this week, following noise complaints.  The performance, done in tribute to painter Edvard Munch, involved a group of over 300 participants “releasing their emotions by screaming,” as Abramovic said.  The sound startled several local residents, who in turn called the police.  “We received four or five  reports,” said police spokesperson Ola Kroken. “But now it’s over.” (more…)

The Marina Abramovic Institute has reached its target goal of $600,000 on the Kickstarter online funding platform, with two days left before the campaign closes.  The funds will go to cover the design process for the museum, before it moves into its construction phase.  In total, the project is anticipated to cost a total of $20 million. (more…)

“Picasso Baby,” the final cut of rapper Jay Z’s marathon performance at Pace Gallery earlier this month, will premiere this Friday on HBO.  Directed by music video veteran Mark Romanek, the film will document the 6 hour performance, which included cameos and interactions with Marina Abramovic and Alan Cumming, among many more.  “Concerts are pretty much performance art,” Jay Z says, “but with this smaller venue you can get a bit more intimate.  You can feel the energy of the people.” (more…)

In support of her ongoing Kickstarter campaign for the Marina Abramovic Institute, artist Marina Abramovic will log into popular website Reddit today, for one of the site’s ongoing “Ask Me Anything” sessions.  The artist will open herself to questions from fans and users from around the world, submitted via the site’s simple message board structure. (more…)

Performance art pioneer Marina Abramovic has taken to crowd-sourced fundraising site Kickstarter in order to help finance the construction of the Marina Ambramovic Institute in Hudson, New York.  The project goal of $600,000 will look to alive a portion of the final construction cost of $20 million, and has already raised over $26,000.  Prizes available in exchange for donation include a webcam chat session with the artist, a special video game version of the Institute by artist Pippin Barr, or a ride in a brainwave controlled go-kart.   (more…)

Preparing for the release of her anticipated album ARTPOP, pop star Lady Gaga has announced a series of collaborations with contemporary artists, including Jeff Koons, Marina Abramovic, Inez & Vinoodh and Robert Wilson.  Gaga has stated that her new project will “bring the music industry into a new age; an age where art drives pop, and the artist once again is in control of the ‘icon.'” (more…)

Boléro, a collaboration between artist Marina Abramovic and Belgian choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet, is set to open tonight in Paris.  Interpreting Ravel’s immediately recognizable work for dance, the work debuts at the Palais Garnier alongside Maurice Béjart’s “Firebird” and versions of “Afternoon of a Faun” by Nijinsky and Jerome Robbins.  “In my own work I am completely in control, but the interesting thing with collaboration is to give up part of yourself, the ‘I,’ ” said Abramovic. “It’s very liberating to be in a new field, dance, to let things come to you and not to make decisions.” (more…)

Performance artist Terence Koh has announced that he is currently working on an opera to premiere at the new Thaddeus Ropac complex on the outskirts of Paris.  The work will be done in collaboration with composers from the Philharmonie de Paris, and follows in the footsteps of Marina Abramovic, who debuted her own opera last year in Madrid. (more…)

Sean Kelly Gallery, Los Carpinteros, Kosmaj Toy (2012).

All images by A.M. Ekstrand for ArtObserved, on location at Art Basel Miami Beach Fair.

Art Basel returned once again in Miami Beach this past week for the 11th annual Art Basel Miami Beach Fair. Featuring over 300 galleries representing 36 countries around the world, the show has exhibited marked growth from last year’s event, with well over 2,000 artists flocking to exhibit at what has become the internationally-renowned closing party for the world art market each year.  It is of course always an irony that tens of thousands will fly down for the events and parties, with many of them never visiting the vast aggregation of what it said to be roughly $1.5 billion worth of art in one (large) room, a collection that few museums in the world could compete with.   Below is a selection of some of the works we thought to be notable from the fair.

Helly Nahmad Gallery, Mark Rothko No. 1 (1957) and Alexander Calder, installation view

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VICE Magazine interviews Marina Abramović about her view on what constitutes a performance, on young artists and fashion: VICE: “I put some crystals in my cleavage because I know you use crystals in your work.” Abramović: “I’ve never put crystals in my cleavage, but OK.” (more…)

ICI Executive Director Kate Fowle, Leo Award recipient Dasha Zhukova, and Independent Vision Curatorial Award recipients Nav Haq and Jay Sanders

All photos by C. Daleli for ArtObserved

On Monday, November 19th, 2012, Independent Curators International held its Annual Fall Benefit & Auction. ICI’s Executive Director, Kate Fowle, kicked off the party with a toast to all Honorees, Board of Trustees and supporters of the institution. The intimate Honoree Hour celebrated the recipient of this year’s Leo Award, Dasha Zhukova. Agnes Gund, President Emerita of the Museum of Modern Art and member of the Board of Trustees of the National Council on the Arts presented the award to Zhukova after listing her endless accomplishments are an art world patron. This was followed by acclaimed curator Hans Ulrich Obrist presenting the prestigious Independent Vision Curatorial Award to Jay Sanders and Nav Haq.

Wendi Murdoch (more…)

Lynda Benglis sculptures and Hans Hurting paintings at Cheim & Read’s booth at Frieze Masters. All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed unless otherwise noted

Frieze Masters and Frieze London concluded on October 14th, with both fairs reporting solid sales on the high end. This year, there was a distinct focus on curated booths and curatorial projects and less of an overt feeling of commercialization. Frieze Masters in particular focused on serious connoisseurship and an academic approach, both of which translated into a successful fair for dealers.

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Marina Abramovic is featured in Antony And The Johnson’s “Cut the World” video. The previously unreleased song was originally composed for the artist’s biographical play “The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic.” Willem Dafoe appropriately co-stars in the beautiful, but violent and gory video, as he performed in Abramovic’s play as well.

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Marina Abramović to teach The Abramović Method at MoMA PS1 Summer School this year. The renowned performance artist’s technique is designed to train students to achieve “a clear state of mind in order to develop ideas for their own work.”

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