Artist in focus: Marina Abramovic

February 2011

This article was produced by leading international art advisory firm 1858 Ltd* who provide independent and impartial advice to HSBC Private Bank clients in all aspects of the collecting process in association with the HSBC Private Bank art and design advisory team.

*1858 is a third party company which is not owned by any HSBC entity and is not a member of the HSBC Group.

Marina Abramovic, the self professed "grandmother of performing arts" is radical in her pursuit of lasting performance art. The physical and mental toll of making her dramatic works is one reason that almost none of Abramovic’s contemporaries are still performing today, she has outlasted them all.

Her 2010 solo show at the MoMA called "The Artist Is Present," found Ms. Abramovic sitting silent at a table in the museum's atrium, facing an empty chair. She sat secluded all day, every day, during museum hours, for the run of the show totalling 716 hours and 30 minutes.

Her latest work, however could be her most fleeting. Called Volcano Flambé, a dessert prepared by Kevin Lasko, at New York's Park Avenue Winter restaurant. "You receive this dessert in front of you and it’s kind of a mystery," Ms. Abramovic said. While Abramovic is not present at this work of performance art she is available through an MP3 player to narrate the experience.

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