April 5, 2010
NYC
Elevation: 80m
10:10am – Arrive at the corner of 53rd St and 6th Ave and contemplate the long line that is wrapping around 6th Ave. Secretly thank god that I am a member, by pass the line and head straight into MOMA.
10:20am – Waiting at the bottom of the staircase for a chance to share a moment (or hours) with Marina Abramovic. I am not a performance artist and I have little interest in adding that component to my practice (though interestingly I come up with quiet a bit of performance based ideas). Yet, the though of sitting across from Maria was compelling to me. To share her presence for 10 minutes, an hour, or for however long I could endure. If nothing else, I wanted to have this experience.
11am-ish – 4-5 people down already with only 6 people in front of me. I’m thinking, ok, not so bad, its possible that I can get my chance by 1pm perhaps.
11:15am – A girl in a black sweater with a red scarf sat down across the table. She was crying silently during the first hour sitting across the table from Abramovic.
Meanwhile, I am chatting up with the people that are also waiting to share a moment of time and space with Abramovic. There is Paul and his 10 year old son Fred who are in line ahead of me, both waiting for their turn. There is a man in a mustache, the next person in line, he stayed standing with his back straight, weight evenly distributed, holding a book rather properly while the rest of us camped out on the cold stone floor of the atrium. The rumor has it that he is the guy who had sat with Marina for 8 hours for 2 days but he is only planning on a 15 minute visit with her today so we should not worry. Natasha, an artist who is doing observation based field research and has spent many days at MOMA talking to both the spectators and participants about the experience. Jon, my buddy in line who took the day off from work and is wondering if he should be spending this lovely spring day inside waiting for a chance to sit across the table from Abramovic. Then there is Aidan. This is his fifth time here. He has never made it to the table. He said that it is no longer about making it to the table and getting his ass into that seat. The wait for a chance is an experience in itself and he is happy to spend the day sitting on the cold floor in MOMA.
Something does happen while you sit there and wait. I don’t know what nor exactly how to describe it. All I know is that I would be happy to go back again and just wait. Maybe that is part of the brilliance of Abramovic’s work. Her presence transforms the time and space, the oxygen level in the air, an idea all of sudden takes on a life of its own, beyond the act of endurance, beyond the sheer will and then there is art where there wasn’t before.
1:30pm – Time for me to leave. There is much to do and I think this girl is in for the day.
5pm – Home. Writing this blog entry. According to the MOMA live feed, she is still there.
More on Marina Abramovic soon.
Learn more about Marina Abramovic here.
