May 8, 2010
NYC
Elevation: 80m
10am Saturday morning and I am back at MOMA again. I wouldn’t normally choose to be here on a Sat but my friend Tricia is here from Maine and we both would like to see if we can have a chance to sit with Marina Abramovic so here we are. I am at the bottom of the stairs at 10:20am and a group of VIPs gets led up the stairs before the museum officially opens. The energy in the air is different today. The sense of community and camaraderie I experienced waiting last time has been replaced by a competitive energy. A German couple pushes me out of the way as we make our way up the stairs. It feels a circus here today. Marina is the main attraction and all have gathered here to gawk at her. Is the chance of sharing a real moment, of being present and silent, of looking into someone else’s eye and have it look back at you unflinchingly such a rarity today that a chance to sit w/ Marina becomes precious, a freak of nature?
I feel like I am at a movie opening. Everyone is hoping for a photo op, the VIPs are wanting to sit with Marina because it would make for great dinner party anecdotes. All of this puts me off to the experience and I nearly want to leave and have brunch with Tricia instead.
I look around and I think about how there is this very real, very intense exchange happening in the center of a false perimeter drawn on the floor and just outside of this box is filled w/ voyeurism, insincerity and ego (at least that was the vibe this morning). Is crossing over the false boundary what transforms the sitter or is the sincere offering of Marina being present w/ you the transformative agent?
I overhear a child ask her mom what is going on and where is the art? The mom replies that Marina is the art. Is Marina the ART? Or is ART what is created within the 6 feet of space between the sitter and Marina? Or is that moment, the intangible, the ART?
Unknowingly, time passes and it is well after 3pm. My chance is coming close if no one decides to sit down for good for the rest of the day. In the mean time, Tricia and I get bombarded with questions because Tricia had made a replica of Marina’s dress, but Tricia is in Red as Marina is in White. People come up to us and ask if Tricia is part of the performance and why has she decided to make the dress so on and so forth. Tricia is paying homage to Marina in her own way and the dress is also a way for Tricia to communicate to Marina while we are unable to verbally speak with her.
3:55pm, it is finally my turn to sit with Marina Abramovic. The table that was there in between Marina and the visitor has been removed. There are only two chairs now. The removal of the table make the experience more intimidating, vulnerable and intimate. I sit and I stare into Marina’s eyes and I can feel her exhaustion and a sadness that is so deep it nearly takes the air out of me. Time becomes a strange thing. It expands and contracts and passes without you knowing. The experience is intense. There is an energetic exchange that happens between you and Marina. Just as magic happens when I put the camera up to my eye and hit the trigger, something magical happened during my time with Marina. As it is with all magical experiences, talking too much about it ruins the experience, so I will shut up now.
Thank You Marina. Thank you for being present.
Learn more about Marina Abramovic here.
*That is my friend Tricia in the chair opposite of Marina Abramovic
