Marina Abramović Institute

Longtime friend of The Clocktower Marina Abramović speaks to David Weinstein about her Kickstarter project, which is approaching the end of its 30-day funding period on August 25, 2013. Campaign pledges will go toward the creation of the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI) in Hudson, NY. MAI is based on the “Abramović Method” that teaches participants heightened awareness of their physical and mental experience while interacting with performance pieces. Through workshops, performances and lectures, MAI will communicate the Abramović Method to the general public. Marina also discusses her ongoing project in Oslo to create an interactive instillation in tribute to Munch's The Scream.

The type of instruction that will be offered at MAI is a process that Marina has worked on for years in collaboration with different artists. Beginning in 1978 with Ulay, Marina started to incorporate students into her workshops, thus extending her sphere of influence. In 2010, she took her method directly to the public, sitting for hours on end, locked in eye contact with MoMA visitors. The intensity of her experience at MoMA opened up a new channel of understanding in her work. She now wants to share this vision through a kind of “laboratory,” as she calls it, “dedicated to the presentation and preservation of long durational work.” The object of this long durational work is to destroy a given participant’s conventional concept of time and re-assess the parameters of his or her existence in the present moment.

MAI’s pledge goal for the project is set at $600, 000. Marina promotes the Kickstarter by promising an embrace to contributors of just $1, among many other ways that she plans on giving thanks to her supporters.
To pledge, click here.

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