An artist who famously let the public do anything to her for six hours opened up about a moment that left her emotional in another performance.
Marina Abramović, one of the world’s most influential performance artists, is renowned for her boundary-defying work.
Among her most controversial pieces is Rhythm 0, a 1974 performance in which she stood motionless beside a table holding 72 objects, inviting spectators to use them on her in any way they wished without intervention.
The Serbian artist, whose career has often explored themes of pain, vulnerability, and endurance, staged the performance at a gallery in Naples, Italy.
She presented herself as a passive object, announcing: “I am an object. You can do whatever you want with me, and I will take full responsibility for the 6 hours,” according to the Marina Abramović Institute.
“At the beginning, nothing really happened,” Abramović explained. “The public were calm. They would play with me. They would give me a rose, they would kiss me, look at me.”
Another of Abramović’s landmark works was The Artist Is Present, held at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art in 2010.
In this performance, she spent two and a half months seated at a table, with an empty chair across from her.
Visitors were invited to sit silently with her, creating what she described as a “silent conversation.”
The experience was deeply moving for many attendees, and one reunion in particular broke her usual strict rules.
Abramović’s former partner and longtime collaborator, Frank Uwe Laysiepen, better know as Ulay, arrived unannounced to participate in The Artist Is Present.
The pair had met in 1975, performing and living together for more than a decade. Their relationship famously ended after a performance called The Lovers, where they walked from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China to meet in the middle, per CNN.
The plan was to marry at that meeting, but their union ended after Ulay revealed he had fathered a child with his Chinese translator during the project.
When Ulay sat across from Abramović at MoMA, the emotional intensity of their reunion was palpable.
Despite her usual rule against breaking character, Abramović reached for Ulay’s hands, breaking into tears.
In a heartfelt conversation that followed, Abramović reflected: “It’s been great, it’s been difficult, it’s been hell, it’s been love, it’s been hate, it’s been everything.”
Ulay thanked her, to which she responded: “Wait, don’t go away.” She continued: “I never forget that moment in MoMA when I broke my rules, and I never break my rules ever, ever, ever, ever. But this is the moment I break all my rules because you were not just another visitor, you were my life.”
Reflecting on their reunion, Ulay said it was raw and unprepared: “No preparation, no rehearsal.”
Abramović hoped the footage of their meeting could help others find healing, saying: “It’s so human, everybody has love, separation and everything was there reflected.”
