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It’s Not All Part of the Work

by Art Fag City on June 1, 2010 · 63 comments

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

Marina Abramovic sitting during her performance The Artist Is Present

An observation on MoMA’s website dedicated to the Marina Abramovic exhibition, which closed yesterday: The artist has the entire 6th floor dedicated to her work and, but for a couple interviews about her early performances, none of it’s on the site. There are however prominent links to the sitter portrait flickr feed as well as the live webcam to her performance on the second floor The Artist is Present. That sure creates a focus. Now, no one could have predicted the number of tearing sitters and adoring fans that showed up at the Museum or the numerous memeing websites, but I’m really not a fan of the “it’s all part of the work” rationalization for Abramovic’s epic media circus when the institution’s marketing strategies have so clearly played a role in what this work became. Plus, the turn of phrase is the classic art catch-all often used to make art seem more important or encompassing than it really is. The Artist is Present may be as significant as its press, but we’re not going to know for certain until after the hype has subsided. This means revisiting this topic in say, December 2011. Consider this date slated.

UPDATE: A point of clarification: This post isn’t to suggest that Marina herself didn’t have a role in the theatricality of the work, but rather that there was a structure in place to capitalize on this.  I mean, what are the chances Marina said to MoMA: I think we should create a flickr account of my sitters. Also, let’s send that link to Kottke — I’m speculating here, but you get the drift.

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  • http://tommoody.us tom moody

    Karen Archey: Internet consensus is that it is a “snuggie.”

  • http://tommoody.us tom moody

    Karen Archey: Internet consensus is that it is a “snuggie.”

  • http://present2artist.tumblr.com nina meledandri

    to deny that the performance had a profound effect in the present, regardless of hype, is silly

    as far as the hype goes, we are living in a time when people tweet about every cup of coffee they drink, part of the lesson in all this just might be that it’s time we start developing some serious filtering skills.

    and it is also absurd to argue whether the end justifies the means, will this be an overnight sensation or was the (over)exposure simply a necessary jump start for a work that will eventually be considered seminal?

    only time will tell
    thank you, please do revisit in 6 months.

  • http://present2artist.tumblr.com nina meledandri

    to deny that the performance had a profound effect in the present, regardless of hype, is silly

    as far as the hype goes, we are living in a time when people tweet about every cup of coffee they drink, part of the lesson in all this just might be that it’s time we start developing some serious filtering skills.

    and it is also absurd to argue whether the end justifies the means, will this be an overnight sensation or was the (over)exposure simply a necessary jump start for a work that will eventually be considered seminal?

    only time will tell
    thank you, please do revisit in 6 months.

  • http://present2artist.tumblr.com nina meledandri

    to deny that the performance had a profound effect in the present, regardless of hype, is silly

    as far as the hype goes, we are living in a time when people tweet about every cup of coffee they drink, part of the lesson in all this just might be that it’s time we start developing some serious filtering skills.

    and it is also absurd to argue whether the end justifies the means, will this be an overnight sensation or was the (over)exposure simply a necessary jump start for a work that will eventually be considered seminal?

    only time will tell
    thank you, please do revisit in 6 months.

  • http://present2artist.tumblr.com nina meledandri

    to deny that the performance had a profound effect in the present, regardless of hype, is silly

    as far as the hype goes, we are living in a time when people tweet about every cup of coffee they drink, part of the lesson in all this just might be that it’s time we start developing some serious filtering skills.

    and it is also absurd to argue whether the end justifies the means, will this be an overnight sensation or was the (over)exposure simply a necessary jump start for a work that will eventually be considered seminal?

    only time will tell
    thank you, please do revisit in 6 months.

  • http://jessepatrickmartin.blogspot.com/ Jesse P. Martin

    @Nina: With all due respect, you sat with Abramovic on multiple occasions, linked to your website via the MoMA’s photostream on every photo of your sitting, Twittered about it, blogged about it, etc. Were we supposed to do some “filtering” of the content that you repeatedly linked to each time you attended the show? I realize that you were using the Abramovic performance as a nucleus (springboard?) for your own performance, and that you’ve defined these supplementary components as “documentation,” but one could also see you using Abramovic’s performance as a direct way to generate your own “hype” via the very devices you’re suggesting that we should be “filtering.”

  • http://jessepatrickmartin.blogspot.com/ Jesse P. Martin

    @Nina: With all due respect, you sat with Abramovic on multiple occasions, linked to your website via the MoMA’s photostream on every photo of your sitting, Twittered about it, blogged about it, etc. Were we supposed to do some “filtering” of the content that you repeatedly linked to each time you attended the show? I realize that you were using the Abramovic performance as a nucleus (springboard?) for your own performance, and that you’ve defined these supplementary components as “documentation,” but one could also see you using Abramovic’s performance as a direct way to generate your own “hype” via the very devices you’re suggesting that we should be “filtering.”

  • http://jessepatrickmartin.blogspot.com/ Jesse P. Martin

    @Nina: With all due respect, you sat with Abramovic on multiple occasions, linked to your website via the MoMA’s photostream on every photo of your sitting, Twittered about it, blogged about it, etc. Were we supposed to do some “filtering” of the content that you repeatedly linked to each time you attended the show? I realize that you were using the Abramovic performance as a nucleus (springboard?) for your own performance, and that you’ve defined these supplementary components as “documentation,” but one could also see you using Abramovic’s performance as a direct way to generate your own “hype” via the very devices you’re suggesting that we should be “filtering.”

  • http://tommoody.us tom moody

    I had never heard the name nina meledandri before today. Unless it was when Miltos Manetas registered the domain name whitneybiennial.org and drove around Manhattan with a van of rejected artists’ work–possibly it was in there?

  • http://tommoody.us tom moody

    I had never heard the name nina meledandri before today. Unless it was when Miltos Manetas registered the domain name whitneybiennial.org and drove around Manhattan with a van of rejected artists’ work–possibly it was in there?

  • http://tommoody.us tom moody

    I had never heard the name nina meledandri before today. Unless it was when Miltos Manetas registered the domain name whitneybiennial.org and drove around Manhattan with a van of rejected artists’ work–possibly it was in there?

  • http://tommoody.us tom moody

    I had never heard the name nina meledandri before today. Unless it was when Miltos Manetas registered the domain name whitneybiennial.org and drove around Manhattan with a van of rejected artists’ work–possibly it was in there?

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