Marina Abramović; Swapping Meditation For Pain

An intense performance artist who pushes her body to it's hard limits in an attempt to reach a higher consciousness. Marina Abramović, now 70 years old, still has the most shocking portfolio of work spanning from Rhythm 0 (1974) in which 72 items, including a gun, are laid out for the viewers to use on her as if she was an object, to her expansive collection of work with former partner and fellow performance artist, Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen) which included Breathing In, Breathing Out (1977 & 1978) where they locked mouths and only had each others lungs as a source of oxygen until they ultimately passed out, and finally, and arguably her most notable recent works, The Artist Is Present (2010). The Artist Is Present was her longest work, timeless to the audience at MoMa, starting prior to opening time and continuing after it closed for a total of 750 hours. The purpose of the iconic piece is still somewhat uncertain but the emotional responses still resonate.

The cover of the documentary produced centring The Artist Is Present and who Abramović was, is and will be seems synonymous to alternative feminist counterpart Tracey Emin's confessional memoirs Strangeland's cover in the latest edition. Her alternative views on feminism as a female are intriguing. In 2012 she told the Guardian that she rejects the label because “it puts you in a category and…an artist has no gender,” yet as a woman it makes her nakedness in many of her pieces even more penetrating.

Her work with Uley has strong themes of sexual energy and the tensions between male and female physicality, but her other main theme is of 'positive nothing'. Ambramović is well travelled and has been deeply influenced by Eastern ideas of knowing, being and enlightenment. Taking great interest in Tibetan Buddhism and Shamanic wisdom she explored rituals by means of repetition to reach a state of 'void'. The Tibetan's refer to this lacking as 'full emptiness' and Abramović reached this altered consciousness by emptying herself physically and mentally in pieces such as; Freeing the Voice (1976), Freeing the Memory (1976) and Freeing the Body (1976).

Abramović is currently part of Terrains of the Body: Photography from the National Museum of Women in the Arts exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery until 16th April but last years documentary release of The Space in Between: Marina Abramovic and Brazil as well as 2012's most notable artist film, Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present, should keep you occupied until you make it down there. If you're interested in the pain side of Abramović's performances try looking into Ron Athey's Resonate/Obliterate next or have a wander through the mind of Milo Moiré who also pushes the naked body to new levels with works like Mirror Box 2016.