Eye-gazing as performance art.
"In 2010 at the Museum of Modern Art, Marina Abramovic engaged in an extended performance called 'The Artist Is Present.' . . . Seated silently at a wooden table across from an empty chair, she waited as people took turns sitting in the chair and locking eyes with her. Over the course of nearly three months, for eight hours a day, she met the gaze of 1,000 strangers, many of whom were moved to tears.
"'Nobody could imagine . . . that anybody would take time to sit and just engage in mutual gaze with me,' Abramovic explained. In fact, the chair was always occupied, and there were continuous lines of people waiting to sit in it. 'It was a complete surprise . . . this enormous need of humans to actually have contact.'"
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www.moma.org]
HBO made a documentary about the eye-gazing. "Seductive, fearless and audacious, Marina Abramovic has been redefining art for nearly 40 years. This film follows the artist as she plans and executes a major retrospective of her work at New York City's Museum of Modern Art -- an event highlighted by a minimalist exhibit in which she sat opposite individual members of the public, staring in silence for as long as they wanted."
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www.hbo.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2022 08:04AM by shamrock.