Today in class we were introduced to performance art. It is different than the previous art we have studied because paintings, sculptures or instillations, focus on the object as the main idea of the art. In performance art time, space, the performer’s body and a relationship between performer and audience are essential. There is no set space, or length of time, rather it is completely personal and what the performer feels. Performance art is very emotional as I learned from Marina Abramovic.

After watching her biography in class and reading more about her performance art, I have realized that there is not always a strong connection between the audience and performer. Some night find her work magnificent or appealing, however, I am more allured by other types of art. I do have a respect for her art though. She is constantly pushing the boundaries with her art and limits of her body and possibilities of the mind. Abramovic’s performances are all very personal and makes her the main focus of the piece. She claims that there is a right time and place for her performance and that she usually begins or ends on the night of a full moon. She claims that she does not want to waste the energy of the moon showing her thought and connection to the world. Abramovic has no limits to her art and a purity of expression.

Her performances all explore the physical and metal limitations of the body and mind. In her Rhythm 10, 1973 performance she played the Russian game in which rhythmic knife jabs are aimed between the spread fingers. Each time that Marina Abramovic cut herself she would pick up a new knife from the row of twenty she had set up, and recorded the operation. She recorded this and after cutting herself twenty times went over the recordings listening to the sounds and trying to correct her mistakes. She listened to her pain and the sounds of the stabbing on the recording proving her feeling that once you enter into a performance you can push your body to do things you absolutely never do normally. This belief is shown to a greater extent in her performance where for twelve days she lived in the museum. She had ladders set up with knifes as the prongs preventing her from leaving the raised three rooms. She showered there claiming it purified her and wondered if that purity could be spread to the whole room. She also only drank water, no food for twelve days testing her body and seeing how he deprived mind would function. She has also done make other performances that tested her physically such as taking depressant drugs and other harmful acts. She is able to enter into the structure giving the audience a unique and personal performance.