Marina Abramovic in Bangkok

Now in her 70s, Marina Abramovic has been pushing the boundaries of performance art for over five decades.

Our arrival in Bangkok in October 2018 coincided with the beginning of the second ‘Bangkok Art Biennale‘ festival. All around the city, in museums, galleries, hotels and derelict buildings, artists were showcasing their work. We downloaded an app showing the locations of the art pieces and decided we would visit them all. It was a great way to get around Bangkok and visit places we would not have ever thought about visiting.

One of the main attractions was the appearance of Marina Abramovic. Marina is one of the most important performance artists of her time. She has challenged audiences with her body art, endurance art and the possibilities of the mind. She has tested the relationship between audience and performer, often inviting audiences to become the art. Read more about Marina and her work at the ‘Bangkok Art Biennale’ page.

A Possible Island

Marina had two exhibitions at the ‘Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’ (map). The first one, ‘A Possible Island’ featured “8 long duration performances and the Abramovic method’.

Geometry of Lamentation

I The Flame

The Circle

The artist came right to the edge of the circle to stare at Joanna. This went on for about a minute but seemed much longer.

Protreptic

Before entering the room we had to sign a disclaimer saying we understood that the artist had a safe word. We had to wear gloves and were told we could place our hands on the artist’s body. Despite being semi-naked and agreeing to let strangers place their hands on her, the power shifted as soon as you entered the room. Her confidence was Incredible and no one touched her whilst I was there.

Our Glorious Past, Our Glorious Present, Our Glorious Future

This artist stood completely still for 8 hours a day for three weeks. The exhibition was closed on Mondays but he still came in an stood in an empty hall for 8 hours so not to break his level of concentration. He never flinched when you approached him. Incredible, really.

The Abramovic Method

The second part of the exhibition was called ‘The Abramovic Method’. All phones and cameras and bags had to handed in before taking part.

We took part in various activities such as walking from one point to another as slowly as possible (I managed 8 metres in 8 minutes), staring at a yellow rectangle for as long as possible, and the ultimate test of patience, counting rice.

I sat down at a table with a pile of two different types of rice. The instructions were simple. “Separate and count.” Having no idea how long this would take, I began the task. It soon became apparent that this would take a lot longer than I initially thought. But at what point do you give up? After about an hour and nowhere near finished, it suddenly occurred to me that the conclusion to this mundane and lengthy task would be to mix the two rice back together again, ready for the next person. It took about 3 hours, maybe more. I looked at the 2 piles of rice for a moment…. Then mixed them back together. The feeling was one of relief, pride and confusion as to why I’d just spent 3 hours in Bangkok separating and counting rice. My neck hurt! Here is my method, adapted as I progressed. The circled numbers are the totals.

The exhibition was amazing. Seeing the artists who have studied with Marina was so powerful and then to be able to take part in the activities yourself was a real mind-opener.

Marina Abramovic Symposium

Finally, we got to meet the woman herself at a symposium held in one of the conference halls in the Siam Paragon mall. We couldn’t believe it when we discovered we had front row tickets!

Marina spoke about her life, her methods and of working with the young artists. She took questions at the end. She was funny, smart and youthful; everything I hoped she’d be.

You can watch the full symposium here:

The Bangkok Art Bienalle will take place again in 2020. Check http://www.bkkartbiennale.com/ for further details.