Lying in bathtubs filled with dried flowers, finding yourself with long hair on top of your head… The exhibition in Shanghai by Serbian artist Marina Abramovic, her first in Asia, offers a “totally immersive” experience “.
Marina Abramovic, 77, is known worldwide for her performances, such as her 90-day long march on the Great Wall of China in 1988, in the name of art.
“Transforming Energy,” which runs until February 28, 2025 at the Shanghai Museum of Modern Art, is the largest exhibition ever curated by Marina Abramovic. It is “very different from all the exhibitions that have ever been designed” and “very radical”, the artist promised.
“Every element of this exhibition invites our audience to participate,” Shai Baitel, curator of the exhibition, explains to AFP, adding: “The work of art is incomplete if the audience does not connect to it.”
For the work “Counting the Rice”, for example, visitors seated at small tables must separate white grains of rice from black grains on a small mound, count them and write the result on a paper that they take home.
On another floor of the museum, they are invited to put away their phones — a difficult experience for some Chinese who often have their eyes glued to their screen — and to use noise-cancelling headphones, all while repeating gestures, such as close or open a door.
“I really want there to be a technology detox in this show,” Marina Abramovic told AFP.
– “Incredible” –
“The latitude and perspective of (her work) is incredible, I think she’s great,” said one visitor, Nikki Yang, 43, who had already seen her work in New York. “I never thought she would one day exhibit in China,” she adds.
Another visitor, Yang Shangxuan, 24, said he was particularly struck by a work inviting viewers to stand in the middle of a structure containing crystals, in a room strewn with fragrant wood shavings.
“I closed my eyes to feel the energy of the crystals, and even though I didn’t feel it, I felt very relaxed,” explains the young man who first discovered this artist at school.
In addition to dozens of new works, the exhibition also retraces the march on the Great Wall of China, through more than a thousand photos and videos.
Marina Abramovic made a name for herself with daring work that pushes boundaries and blurs the line between the performer’s body and her art, often with the assistance of the public.
In 2010, sitting on a chair at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York which was devoting an exhibition to her, she saw more than 1,500 visitors pass by over several months.
In another of her most famous performances, “Rhythm 0”, in 1974, she sat motionless on a chair for six hours while the audience was given 72 objects to “use” – including flowers, knives and a gun – on her as he pleased.
Some members of the public eventually became violent, realizing they could act with impunity.
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