The Faculty of Fine Arts hosts the preview of the documentary ʻMarina Abramovic: The artist is presentʼ

Poster of the documentary.
Poster of the documentary.
(05/02/2013)

The assembly room of the UBʼs Faculty of Fine Arts (4 Pau Gargallo, Barcelona) hosts on Tuesday 5th February, at 12.30 p.m., the preview of the documentary Marina Abramovic: The artist is present, directed by Matthew Akers. The film takes us inside Marinaʼs world, following her as she prepares for what may be the most important moment of the Serbian artist life: a major retrospective of her work, taking place at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) of New York in 2010. Dr M. Victòria Combalia, professor at the Department of History of Art of the UB, will open the event. The documentary will be screened in its English original version with Spanish subtitles. The entrance is free.

Poster of the documentary.
Poster of the documentary.
05/02/2013

The assembly room of the UBʼs Faculty of Fine Arts (4 Pau Gargallo, Barcelona) hosts on Tuesday 5th February, at 12.30 p.m., the preview of the documentary Marina Abramovic: The artist is present, directed by Matthew Akers. The film takes us inside Marinaʼs world, following her as she prepares for what may be the most important moment of the Serbian artist life: a major retrospective of her work, taking place at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) of New York in 2010. Dr M. Victòria Combalia, professor at the Department of History of Art of the UB, will open the event. The documentary will be screened in its English original version with Spanish subtitles. The entrance is free.

 
Marina Abramovic (Belgrade, 1946) has redefined the art of performance during the last forty years. She is one of the few artists of her generation who continues working on the same field. She is also a glamorous art-world icon, a lightning rod for controversy, and a myth of her own making. Using her own body as a vehicle, she creates performances that challenge, shock, and move us. Through her and with her, boundaries are crossed, consciousness expanded, and art as we know it is reborn.

Matthew Akersʼ film evidences the success reached by Abramovicʼs retrospective which took place from March to May 2010 at the MoMA. Based on the interviews that Abramovic had with her collaborators and a great number of friends and fans, the documentary shows library pictures of her first works and mixes them with some of her personal and professional life experiences, beginning with her arrival to MoMA. There she attained something never watched before in the world of art: as if she was a music idol, visitors slept in front of the museum to enter the exhibition.

The documentary is a unique opportunity to listen directly to an artistʼs voice, a provocative and alternative artist who, at the peak of her career, wants to be understood by all kinds of audiences. To be given a retrospective at one of the world's premiere museums is, for any living artist, the most exhilarating sort of milestone. For Abramovic, it is far more: it is the chance to finally silence the question she has been hearing over and over again for four decades: "But why is this art?"

The documentary Marina Abramovic: The artist is present has been greatly recognised: it participated in Sundance and Toronto films festivals, and it received the Panorama Audience Award in the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival. On 23rd February we will know if it wins the Independent Spirit Award for the best documentary.