An artist has to look at the future, to see what we can do better. Marina Abramovic More Quotes by Marina Abramovic More Quotes From Marina Abramovic If you have to do durational work, you have to train! No bullshit. You can't do it for three months. You can do it for five hours, 10 hours, and then you have three months rest. If this is your job, you have to be flexible. Marina Abramovic bullshit hours train We, performers, work on willpower. This willpower works in a short term, not durational. Marina Abramovic short-term willpower term You should see ballerinas' feet. They don't have nails. You see beauty, but it's unbelievable pain - with a 40-year pension! That's it, and then life is really finished. Marina Abramovic pension unbelievable pain Once you live in New York, you can't live anywhere else. Living in Paris is like going in slow motion. It's so bourgeois. I get so bored. Marina Abramovic bored Most artists create foundations where they put their own work. Here I'm not putting my own work. I'm just creating the chambers. Marina Abramovic artist I want to die consciously, without fear, and without anger. Three things. I see my friends dying with fear and anger and it's terrible. My grandmother kept her clothes ready for 40 years for her funeral. She lived to 103! But she kept the clothes in a cupboard. As the styles changed, she changed the clothes! I think if I start now with my funeral, it's good. Marina Abramovic funeral grandmother thinking Do you know what's most interesting? Working with the very strong restrictions of the institution. In the Renaissance, the aristocrats would order paintings from the artist. They would order the Crucifixion of Jesus. The restrictions were amazing. Jesus had to be in the middle, three apostles on the left, four apostles on the right - and still you had masterpieces. It's really interesting to work within restriction, and see what you can do with restriction. Marina Abramovic strong artist jesus You know, my mother never thought I would do anything good in my life, and I was standing in this opera with four gold medals! If she were alive, maybe she'd think I was doing well! Marina Abramovic gold mother thinking There has been evolution in my work. In the beginning I was very much busy with the physical body and the limits of the physical body but that somehow naturally led me to the mental body and how I could deal with that. Stillness is so much harder, especially for three months. It was a big challenge. As a performer it is the most difficult experience one can have. And the interactive experience with the public made it even harder. Marina Abramovic evolution challenges busy I didn't give any instruction to the video, because it was a new medium. I didn't know what to tell him; it was so young. I did the piece and immediately after the piece, I wanted to see the material. Marina Abramovic video pieces giving When I first had a video camera to document a performance, it was in Sweden and I remember it was really crucial for me. Marina Abramovic sweden video cameras The complete absence of the story - that was the best thing about this whole thing, because you know that nothing's going to happen and everything's going to happen. It's just the gaze. You create your own zone. Marina Abramovic best-things absence stories Documentation is misleading, because the performance is dead. So the very early works were not documented at all. Marina Abramovic early-work documentation performances If you look at the lives of artists, sitting in nature, painting, having the freedom. I think it's over. I think we're living in such a difficult moment of human development. Artists have more responsibility than ever before. Marina Abramovic artist responsibility thinking I have a problem with being a hero, but that's another problem. Marina Abramovic being-a-hero problem hero Western culture has more need because they're so much more degenerated. They're so much more hurt, and misbalanced completely. Marina Abramovic western-culture hurt needs I serve like a bridge. I go to other cultures, learn, put myself in different situations and learn as much as I can, and then go to Western cultures to give. I'm doing this bridging all the time. Marina Abramovic other-cultures bridges giving Zooming in, zooming out. I was shocked. I said, "Let's erase this right now, put the camera behind the stage and I'll do the performance just for the camera." He set up everything and I told him to go outside and smoke a cigarette. Come back when I finish. Don't touch the camera. This was the way how I've done most everything after that. Marina Abramovic back-when cameras done People ask me what book politicians should read. They should read the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Marina Abramovic politician book people We always think of our own profit, but not in connection to others. Marina Abramovic profit connections thinking
