Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present

This is a documentary about how long it took for Marina Abramovic to get famous. It's a long view of a life lived in art and for art and then suddenly, late in life, to discover that all those years spent in obscurity are finally paying off. That's interesting. But that's all the documentary is about. Why is her art worthy? What has been the arc of her life's work? How has it evolved? I might as well have watched a film about Kim Kardashian and the nature of fame. This is more an adulation of fame itself than an analysis of the power of art. Very disappointing. The frame for the film is the build up to her most famous work, The Artist is Present, at MOMA, where, individually, members of the public were allowed to sit in a chair opposite Ms. Abramovic and stare into her face. The impact of this experience seems to have been profound. Ms. Abramovic's face is magnificent, filled with pain, deep silence and supreme mystery. She did this every day for three months. The sheer fortitude that this must have taken is astounding. The amount of raw emotion that she must have absorbed is exhausting just to think about. To have heard her speak on camera about this experience would have been fascinating. But instead we get a facile look at the least interesting aspect of her life; the fact that she is now famous. I'm glad for her but it's a small, mundane detail of a life lived with far more complexity than this documentary affords her.

Fascinating, unexpectedly deeply moving portrait of Marina Abromovic, who is sometimes called 'the grandmother of performance art" and her hugely successful retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art'.

While her past history is never less then tremendously engrossing, the most powerful moments of the film are those showing her new work, unveiled for the retrospective called 'The Artist is Present'. For 3 months, Ms. Abromovic simply sat in a chair all day, taking no breaks, looking into the eyes of any museum guest who sat down opposite her. No talk, and very little movement.

Yet these encounters are tremendously powerful, often moving both participants to tears (and some of us watching the film as well). This is 'art' taken to it's most simple, naked level. Connection between two strangers, each coming away different for the encounter.

While all this may sound dry and theoretic, the pure honest emotion and presence the 63 year old artist brings to her Herculean task make watching the film anything but.

I don't pretend to know the inner realm of performance art; each creative genre has its own secret system of valuation. What struck me most about Marina as an artist in general, though, is her ability to rise above everything and dedicate herself to the truth as she sees it.

It is incredibly difficult to sit and look directly into someone's eyes, whether a stranger or your most intimate partner. Most of us go days without doing this; try it yourself and see (pun intended). There was no doubt a significant exchange of oxytocin (a feel-good hormone) between her and the hundreds of thousands of people who sat across from her and partook in the social experiment (in fact, it seemed to me to be more of a social experiment than performance art, but again, that's just labels). I don't think anyone would argue that there was a lot of mental energy being exchanged, and as we learn more about the brain through ongoing studies, I'm sure we'll realize that this artist is tapping into a futuristic version of ourselves communicating by energy and emotions only.

It also seemed very "zen" to me, and I noticed that at least one of her visitors was a Buddhist. In essence, she was performing a form of sitting meditation, and the three-day retreat that she insisted on for her fellow performance artists was very close to the spiritual practises of eastern philosophy.

I found the documentary very moving, startlingly refreshing, and a wonderful profile of a courageous, dedicated artist who is a true soul- seeker. The only critical comment I have is that I thought the other artists - the ones who valiantly took on her past tasks and who spent an equal number of hours being "tortured" into stillness - did not get much acclaim at the conclusion of the documentary. Bravo to all of them!

In conclusion, a documentary well worth watching, a woman worthy of our admiration, and an art perhaps emergent in its influences over society.

A 2012 documentary about the 2010 retrospective exhibition "THE ARTIST IS PRESENT" held at MoMA, New York, by the Serbia-born Marina Abramovic, the performance-art spearhead, has been active for over 40 years, she is the "grandmother of performance art".

For the new generation, Marina probably is well-known for her recent collaboration with Lady Gaga in her trendy ARTPOP album, so one may reckon this documentary could be an introductory piece to her wholesome work and artistic ethic, however, as the title implies, the film doesn't purport to be a comprehensive presentation of her lengthy career, instead, it mainly stays in the "present", extensively records her latest performance inside MoMA (with a group of young artists re-enact her most important work at the same time), where Marina dares to sit and stare with her audience face to face but in silence for many hours a day continuously for 3 months. It was a great success in any rate, but also accurately testifies how smart Marina is, as an astute artist, she knows what her art needs is the gaze and attention from audience, and it is so different from other media, performance art is an ongoing process, so she utilizes her towering stamina to grant each audience the possibility to be in the center of a crowd, to participate in her work and to ruminate in a trance of emotional undercurrents. In a three-months span, the film covers the sensational public images and the more laid-back private moments in Marina's life, through cautious eyes, one might find she is always performing, it is her lifestyle, her habitual mechanism towards the world at least whenever the camera aims at her, she minimally elucidates her beliefs and through ages, her radical angle has abated, what is left is the mystical allure of her presence, as she is sitting silently in front of you and gazing into your eyes but indeed, in most case, you don't mean a thing to her.

The most curious and emotionally relatable part is in the first half of the film, when we briefly get a chance to know about her background, especially her works with German artist Ulay, who she met in 1976, afterward they spent 12 years together as a collective being until they historically ended their relationship in 1988 after a spiritual journey in the Great Wall of China. Like Marina said in a speech, an artist should not fall in love with another artist, it does come from her own experiences, that's why their reunion is much more meaningful and intriguing in this sense. Ulay is also quite frank about this relationship, and gives Marina his blessing for her achievements, still through his interview, there are much more mixed emotions are engendered and mixed, but the truth only exists between those who are involved, no matter how curious we are, it is never what this film intends to demonstrate.

Directed by Matthew Akers, with snappy editing work and soothing score from Nathan Halpern, the film is a joyful ride for those who are really into art scenes and all the fanfares tailing along, occasionally thought-provoking, but essentially it is a bandwagon for Marina's artwork and reputation, if you want to know more about the person herself, you will find this film wanting and not spunky enough to soberly take stock of its subject matter.

I remember when there were people going to MOMA in droves to sit across from some artist I'd never heard of. I heard people say it was a very moving experience. It sounded nuts to me. So I was curious to see if I could get a sense of what it was all about from this movie.

I suppose I did, a little bit. The movie is made by people who want to be a bit artsy about it all, with jump shots and some shaky camera-work, but it does give you the basics. Marina is a long-time performance artist who specializes in feats of endurance, like running repeatedly into a wall or sitting naked on a bicycle seat for hours. She is very sincere, very determined, and seems to be someone who lives her art. There are scenes of her with her ex-partner/lover in which she is driving and cooking dinner which give you a glimpse into the mundane aspects of life that even those living for their art experience.

Most of the second half of the movie is devoted to her three months sitting staring at people who stare back. You see how physically grueling the experience is, you see how moved many people are, and you say how insane things got, with people camping out all night, desperate to get in early enough to spend some time having a famous artist stare at them.

The movie doesn't really recreate the experience. It's rather glossy at times, with a soundtrack that I'm sure creates a different experience than what I assume was simply the buzz of the crowd and the noise from any video projections nearby.

I'm amazed that some people here said they were moved by this movie. It's an interesting view of a performance artist, offering occasional mild insights from her friends and giving some understanding of her approach.

I'm also surprised that some people expected more of this movie, like a complete investigation of her career, or questions into how performance art fits into the art world. The movie is called The Artist is Present, and it's focused on that show, and that piece, and it's by someone who clearly buys into performance artist (I've always thought this sort of thing was interesting but kooky). It's exactly the sort of documentary I would expect someone who is intrigued by Marina would be inclined to make.

The movie absolutely did not make me wish I'd gone up to MOMA to stare at her, although it makes me feel, just a little, that maybe I should have gone up to see the recreations of her previous pieces and take a quick peek at her face-offs. But it's not something I'm losing sleep over.