The Artist is Present

The artist is present is an excellent documentary about the powerful and controversial performance by the charming, courageous, and outrageous, Yugoslavian artist Marina Abramovic.

For nearly three decades Abramovic’s work redefined what art is and Marina is now considered one of the most compelling artists of our time.

The use of her own body as a vehicle, embracing to the limits of pain and physical and mental endurance, confer her the title of grandmother of performance art. The performance took place in 2010 in one of the most important art venue in the world the New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

For three months, from the beginning of March through the end of May the daughter of two national heroes of General Tito's Yugoslavia, sat solemnly and silently for seven and half hours, every day, without food or water, in a wood chair, still, emotionless and gazing into the eyes of hundreds of visitors who sat opposite her only for the opportunity to see Ms. Abramovic face to face. This exchange of glances for some induces tears; for others, a smile.

While she performs on one floor of MoMA, on another floor utilizing both videos and photos of her old works, a group of thirty young artists, disciplinary trained for endurance and concentration, by the same Abramovic, during a rural workshop based on yoga, zen, and breathing, recreated five performance pieces that characterized the artist's career.

The documentary, evidences the genesis of that work and also provides, through interviews and archival clips, a synopsis of Abramovic’s career.

In the retrospective, there is a fascinating section about her love and artistic collaboration with the German performance artist Ulay, that unbeknownst to her takes part in the performance.
A powerful moment, in which the artist allows the woman to take centre stage, surrendering her renowned resistance.

Two Women Artists Have Major Retrospectives at New York's Museum of Modern Art

For decades, women have fought hard for equal representation and recognition in the art world. They have performed direct action protests at museums and galleries, curated their own shows, created alternative spaces for exhibiting art, and made history in the process. The struggle still continues, but it is important to note when progress is made.

Currently on view at the Museum of Modern Art is a retrospective of Cindy Sherman's groundbreaking photographic portraits spanning over 35 years of her career, featuring Untitled #458 (left). Along with Sherman, MoMA is also exhibiting Sweet Violence, a retrospective of Croatian artist Sanja Ivecovic, including her Paper Women (below).

Both exhibitions are made possible in part by the Modern Women's Fund, an initiative established in 2005 through the support of benefactor Sarah Peter to promote scholarship on women in the arts. Since that time, MoMA has published Modern Women: Women Artists at the Museum of Modern Art, which covers women artists from the museum's founding in 1929 to present day.

The fund has also been instrumental in securing art by women for MoMA's permanent collection, including its most recent acquisition, Mother and Child, a 1956 sculpture by pioneering African American artist Elizabeth Catlett.

Cindy Sherman made art history with her Untitled Film Stills, a series of black and white photos featuring the artist in various poses and settings from films that don't exist. Sherman stresses that these are in no way meant to be self portraits, but portrayals of different characters. In a 2008 interview with New York Magazine, the artist said, "I created in my mind an idea of who the character was, if she's wearing a certain outfit. Maybe the working girl on her way to her first job in the city. Something like that."

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #10, 1978. Image via moma.org