After my performance 'The Artist is Present (2010)' at MoMA in New York, many scientists became interested in why so many people who sat across from me began to cry. I was incredibly moved by this experience also, and was very curious to know what happens in our brains when we spend time not talking, just looking at one another.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the emotional connections formed during silent interactions and the scientific curiosity it evokes.
Marina Abramovic's quote speaks to the profound impact of non-verbal communication and the deep emotional responses it can elicit. After her performance 'The Artist is Present' at MoMA, she observed that many participants cried during their silent exchanges, prompting both her and scientists to explore the neurological and psychological effects of such intimate, wordless encounters.
In practice
In a discussion about the impact of art on emotional well-being, this quote can illustrate the power of silent connection.
All the aggressive actions I do to myself I would never dream of doing in my own life - I am not this kind of person. I cry if I cut myself peeling potatoes. I am taking the plane, there is turbulence, I am shaking. In performance, I become, somehow, like not a mortal.
I hate studio. For me, studio is a trap to overproduce and repeat yourself. It is a habit that leads to art pollution.
The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind.
First of all, to do performance art, you really have to give 100 percent. I only know that I have to give 100 percent and then what happens, happens.
Theatre is fake... The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real.
I want people to come to me open and vulnerable. When they come to the gallery, they have to leave their watches, their computers, their Blackberrys, iPads, iPhones, because we are so incredibly used to technology, and I wanted to remove that.
In terms of helping people understand and know each other a little better, music is universal - universal and transporting.
I'm nothing else but an artist, I'm sure, and delighted to be.
They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall die. I'll wink and couch; no man their works must eye.
...imagine what you are writing about. See it and live it. Do not think it up laboriously, as if you were working out mental arithmetic. Just look at it, touch it, smell it, listen to it, turn yourself into it. When you do this, the words look after themselves, like magic.
The music is really about sharing an experience. That's why we call it Stay Human. It's like we're sharing this genuine human exchange.
The actor is there to translate what's on the page onto the stage or the screen. So I find it important that an actor manages to actually get out of the way, vanish as a person behind the character, never to be seen or talked about again. That's my philosophy.
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