Talking about performance is such a strange thing because it's so immaterial. We are talking about soft matter. We are talking about something that is invisible. You can't see it. You can't touch it. You just can feel it. Marina Abramovic More Quotes by Marina Abramovic More Quotes From Marina Abramovic We are always in the space in-between... all the spaces where you are not actually at home. You haven't arrived yet.... This is where our mind is the most open. We are alert, we are sensitive, and destiny can happen. We do not have any barriers and we are vulnerable. Vulnerability is important. It means we are completely alive and this is an extremely important space. This is for me the space from which my work generates. Marina Abramovic destiny home mean I think communication starts when words are not present at all ... I think we put so much emphasis on language, actually silence is so much more important. Marina Abramovic communication silence thinking The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind. Marina Abramovic artist mind giving Theatre is fake... The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real. Marina Abramovic knives real blood If you're a woman, it's almost impossible to establish a relationship. You're too much for everybody. It's too much. The woman always has to play this role of being fragile and dependent. And if you're not, they're fascinated by you, but only for a little while. And then they want to change you and crush you. And then they leave. Marina Abramovic crush women play Once, Picasso was asked what his paintings meant. He said, “Do you ever know what the birds are singing? You don’t. But you listen to them anyway.” So, sometimes with art, it is important just to look. Marina Abramovic singing bird art Because we never stop silently loving those who we once loved out loud Marina Abramovic loud Time is an illusion. Time only exists when we think about the past and the future. Time doesn't exist in the present here and now. Marina Abramovic illusion past thinking The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation. Marina Abramovic escaping cutting gun If we go for the easy way, then we never change. Marina Abramovic never-change easy way I am only interested in the ideas that become obsessive and make me feel uneasy. The ideas that I'm afraid of. Marina Abramovic obsessive feels ideas True love for whatever you are doing is the answer to everything. Marina Abramovic answers Through performance, I found the possibility of establishing a dialogue with the audience through an exchange of energy, which tended to transform the energy itself. I could not produce a single work without the presence of the audience, because the audience gave me the energy to be able, through a specific action, to assimilate it and return it, to create a genuine field of energy. Marina Abramovic able energy fields When you have so much pain, you think you will lose consciousness. If you say to yourself, ‘So what, lose consciousness,’ the pain goes away. Marina Abramovic consciousness pain thinking The only thing I have learned is to find strength in yourself. No one can help you, no one can do anything for you, you have to do the work yourself. Marina Abramovic finding-strength i-have-learned helping A great artist has to be ready to fail. Marina Abramovic great-art failing artist Your ego can become an obstacle to your work. If you start believing in your greatness, it is the death of your creativity. Marina Abramovic creativity greatness believe I have found that long durational art is really the key to changing consciousness. On such a deep level. Not just the performer, but the one looking at it. Marina Abramovic consciousness long art We always want to do things the way we like, that's why we never change. Marina Abramovic never-change want way I say we don't need art in nature, because it's so perfect without us. We need it in the cities. But the cities have absolutely lost their own center. They think having ten cars and a big bridge is the way to happiness. It's not. Marina Abramovic cities art thinking
