Marina Abramović
16 March –14 July2024
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
This exhibition represents the first major solo exhibition in the Netherlands of the internationally acclaimed artist Marina Abramović (1946, Belgrade, Serbia), pioneer of performance art and former resident of Amsterdam.
In a career that spans five decades, the artist has propelled performance from its experimental beginnings into the mainstream. In this retrospective, Abramović’s entire oeuvre is reviewed and put into contemporary context—from her early works made in the 1970s in Belgrade and Amsterdam, to the revolutionary works she created together with her longtime partner Ulay through the 1980s, up to and including works from her renewed solo practice, which is still active today.
Famous for works such as The Artist is Present (2010), Abramović’s solo practice beckons audience interaction, and engages with spirituality, the natural environment, and the transience of the body. An early proponent of the use of the live body, Abramović has consistently tested the limits of her own physical and mental endurance, while also expanding her practice to embrace collective experience, whether through participatory works or founding the performance art training initiative, the Marina Abramović Institute.
Photos, videos, sculptures, and iconic performances
The survey features photos, videos, sculptures, and live reperformances of four iconic performances that will be staged in the Netherlands for the first time: Art Must Be Beautiful, Artist Must Be Beautiful (1975), Imponderabilia (work with Ulay) (1977), Luminosity (1997) and The House with the Ocean View (2002). As a visitor, you are invited to take part in two performances: Work Relation (work with Ulay) (1978) and Counting the Rice from the Abramović Method.
The exhibition Marina Abramović is organized by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (curated by Karen Archey and Nina Folkersma) and the Royal Academy of Arts, London (curated by Andrea Tarsia). The exhibition is generously supported by Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, the benefactors of the Marina Abramović Circle and the benefactors of the Stedelijk Museum Fonds, and sponsored by ABN AMRO.
