Created by fey
Cleaning the Mirror #1 (1995) is composed of five stacked monitors playing videos of a haunting performance in which Abramović scrubs a grime-covered human skeleton on her lap. Rich with metaphor, this three-hour action recalls, among other things, Tibetan death rites that prepare disciples to become one with their own mortality.
(Fuente)
In the performance, Abramović sits with a skeleton on her lap; next to her is a bucket filled with soapy water. With her right hand, she vigorously brushes the different parts of the skeleton. She is dressed in white, her clothing becoming progressively drenched in the mixture of soapy water and greyish grime.
[...] Through the process of being cleaned, the colour of the skeleton becomes lighter, whereas the dirt which once coated the bones starts to cover Abramović. The distinction between dead and alive therefore starts to blur, hinted at in the work’s title. For Abramović, the skeleton metaphorically represents ‘the last mirror we will all face’ (quoted in Marina Abramovic: Performing Body, exhibition catalogue, Studio Stefania Miscett, Rome 1998, p.20). The continuous loop of the video and sound simulates the never-ending looping of the universe and the inevitability of death, a much-used structural device throughout the artist’s performances.
[...] Death and the passing of time are the major themes addressed in this work, equivalent to the ‘memento mori’ tradition in historical still-life painting in which a skull represents human frailty.
[...] To face death could be interpreted as ‘cleaning the mirror’.
(Fuente)
Marina Abramović has already planned her own funeral, which will incorporate her final performance work, live music, a colourful dress code and plenty of black comedy.
In a keynote speech in Sydney during her 12-day residency for Kaldor Public Art Projects, Abramović – in good health at 67 – read out her manifesto, concluding that “an artist should die consciously without fear” and that “the funeral is the artist’s last piece before leaving”.
Revealing her own funeral scenario (“You should think about everything”), she said an artist must give instructions “so everything is done the way he wants”.
(Fuente)
“Un artista debería morir conscientemente, sin miedo. Debería observar los símbolos de su obra en busca de señales sobre diferentes escenarios de muerte. Un artista debería dejar instrucciones para su funeral, de manera que todo se haga como él lo desea. El funeral es la última obra del artista antes de partir. Un artista debe ser consciente de su propia mortalidad”, dijo.
This documentary project evolved in collaboration with my wife, the journalist Beate Lakotta. We sought permission from terminally ill patients in various hospices to accompany them during the final days and weeks of their lives, equipped with a tape recorder and a camera in order to learn something about dying. They all consented to being portrayed just before and just after their death.
We worked for over a year in hospices in Berlin and Hamburg. We are very grateful to those who participated in the project, and especially to the portrayed individuals and their relatives.
(Fuente)
http://muybridgeshorse.com/2018/09/13/kellie-smith/
https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/whispers-of-immortality-in-damien-hirsts-visions-of-death
En México los precios varían desde los 3 mil pesos hasta los 200 mil pesos.
This is probably the most personal work I’ve ever made, maybe ever will make. I certainly don’t think it is complete, but it is where it is for now. The series basically looks at mine and my family’s experience of grief in the wake of my dad’s murder in June of 2019.
(Fuente)
En The Spirit Leaves the Body (1968), una secuencia de
imágenes representa una figura translúcida que se separa gradualmente de un cuerpo tendido, visualizando el
concepto intangible de la muerte. Las imágenes, tomadas en blanco y negro con una calidad suave y onírica,
trascienden lo literal para explorar cuestiones metafísicas sobre el alma y la mortalidad, dejando al espectador
la tarea de lidiar con sus propias interpretaciones.
(Fuente)
