The famed provocateur, not present but as a ghost in the Royal Academy exhibition from Marina Abramović. Organised thematically rather than chronologically, the exhibition felt less like a retrospective than a museum - guiding the viewer through themes and fixation in the artist’s work. Marina, of course, was not present save for in photograph or video, and although there were recreations of some of her most famous performance pieces, they were solely those with nude bodies (fine). What wasn’t fine was that at least while I was there, the only bodies were black and brown — the white famous artist absent, with black and brown (mostly women) in the vulnerable place of performance on her behalf.
That isn’t to say there weren’t interesting elements to engage with; what i found most fascinating were the documentations of performance through text or video, rather than attempts to recreate. And furthermore, the pieces that were most about her own experience of time, pain, stress, versus those that were about creating these moments for the audience. There is an element of cruelty to Abramović’s work, but this is most effective in my opinion when it is an intellectual cruelty or even boredom versus physical discomfort.
All in all, I’m glad I went but also have many questions on why and how this work was facilitated in this space. The first female artist to have a solo retrospective in the Royal Academy, yet perpetuating the exploitation of bodies that were not her own….so simply following in a long line.