Marina Abramović is one of the most important artists of her generation. In over four decades, her performance art has seen her repeatedly stab her own hand, had a stranger point a loaded gun at her head, sat in silence for 700 hours, set herself on fire and act out her own funeral. She now focuses on her largest undertaking: the opening of the Marina Abramović Foundation for the Preservation of Performance Art.
In the Serbian-born, New York-based artist’s first major interview since her HBO feature documentary last year, this exclusive film by Derek Peck sees Abramović discuss her plans for the institute, its importance; her interest in Shamanism and how it relates to her art; love and death as well as reflecting on her prolific The Artist is Present, the biggest exhibition of performance art in New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s history.