Marina Abramovic [Hardcover]

Friedrich Meschede (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 1993

Marina Abramovic is a widely revered artist whose courageous performance works have revolutionized visual arts. A pivotal figure for several generations, Abramovic has been enthusiastically embraced by the newest crop of artists, critics and art historians. Her iconic endurance works have featured prominently in virtually every comprehensive survey of performance art. With a career that spans more than thirty years, Abramovic continues to produce groundbreaking new work, including the acclaimed seven-day performance "Seven Easy Pieces" at the Guggenheim in 2006. As the first book in more than a decade to look at her challenging work in its entirety, this monograph will offer a fresh take on an artist whose work is key to the latest developments in contemporary art.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: German, English

About the Author

Kristine Stiles is Professor of Art and Art History at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and has contributetd to numerous books on contemporary art and performance, including Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object (1997), Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings (1996) and Phaidon's Paul McCarthy (1995).Chrissie Iles is Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, where she co-curated the 2004 and 2006 Whitney Biennials.Klaus Biesenbach is the Founding Director of Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, and Curator at the Museum of Modern Art and its affiliate, the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Distributed Art Pub Inc (Dap) (October 2, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3893225374
• ISBN-13: 978-3893225378
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 10 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,080,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Collection of Examples of the Art of Marina Abramovic, February 15, 2010

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marina Abramovic (Contemporary Artists) (Paperback)

Yugoslavian artist Marina Abramovic (1946) has simply taken art to another level: while painters and sculptors strive diligently to recreate reality and suggest the emotions of pain and longing, Abramovic succeeds - using her own body and brilliant imagination to make us witness the unwitnessible/unwitnessable. She is the standard bearer for performance art - in many ways being the creator of this medium. In this excellent book There is a very interesting conversation between Klaus Biesenbach and Marina Abramovic that allows the reader (and viewer) many insights as to how the artist selects her subject matter and how she displays it.

Abramovic is known for the painfully self-inflicted traumas she has experienced for the sake of art and episodes from her extended (sometimes for days) performance pieces are included here. Essayists Chrissie Ives and Kristine Stiles help the novice reader to understand the importance of Abramovic's imagination, but the best way to appreciate what the artist does is peruse the generous photographs that document her performances - both of her own body and of the groups of people who willingly participate in her ventures. (For example, there is included a richly colored photograph of rows of Oriental soldiers in full dress except for the quiet exposure of each man's erection!)

For those who are new to the increasingly important aspect of performance art, this book is as fine an introduction as any on the market. One only wishes that it contained a DVD of some of the actual art pieces here frozen in time by the camera. Marina Abramovic is an artist of the highest order and one whose importance in the art world is generally regarded as the finest. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, February 10

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This catalog covers the entire history of her performance art pieces, July 18, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marina Abramovic (Contemporary Artists) (Paperback)

Marina Abramovic pioneered performance as a visual art form, exploring her world beginning with her own body. This catalog covers the entire history of her performance art pieces, with full-page color and black and white photos documenting her multi-faceted views and analyzing differences between good art and bad art forms. Any collection strong in modern alternative artist representation must have MARIA ABRAMOVIC.