‘Rest Energy’: Marina Abramović creates art at the edge of death
Performance art, especially the kind that deals with the human body, often pushes artists to their limitations. That is definitely the case when it comes to the art of Marina Abramović, the renowned Serbian pioneer who redefined the boundaries of voyeurism when it comes to artistic spectacles. Known for her brave experiments that have encouraged the participation of observers, Abramović’s approach to performance art is incredibly influential.
Over the years, many performance artists have put their lives on the line for the sake of art. One notable example is Chris Burden, the man who asked a friend to shoot him in the arm with a real gun for a performance. However, very few artists have explored the limits of the human body like Abramović has throughout her career. While many consider acting and performance art to be similar, the Serbian artist has a different view.
During a conversation with Artspace, Abramović said: “For me acting is taking on the role of somebody else, and you’re pretending to have the feelings that you are showing in front of an audience. Whereas performing is real. When performing you just have an outline of the concept, and then you go inside it. For me, there is the danger that if the performance is short, you act. If you repeat the piece too many times, there is a danger that you start acting, because you already know everything, all the elements. But if you put on something that lasts four, five, six, seven hours, it’s impossible to act.”
Abramović has conducted many experiments that have brought her closer to death, but she considers her 1980 piece Rest Energy to be one of the most difficult works. Created in collaboration with Ulay, Rest Energy features Abramović and Ulay balancing on the opposite ends of a drawn bow with a loaded arrow that is aimed straight at Abramović’s heart. Although the entire performance is captured on video, Abramović prefers the crystallisation of the images from the performance.
She explained: “The idea of the performance having a beginning and end was very difficult for me. In Rest Energy, there is a beginning and end, because even if it’s looped, you still see us release the bow and then start again, but in many other performances, you don’t see that. For me, it was and is very important that the public never sees the beginning and the end. It’s very important that this image continues. It’s almost like our planet endlessly moving around the sun. And we’re endlessly moving around the galaxy. The entire universe is looping, and I like to simulate this looping in performance.”
Rest Energy is an exceptionally unique piece because Abramović completely relinquished control, and a single mistake on Ulay’s part could have killed her on the spot. With microphones attached to both of them, the video captures their rapidly increasing heartbeats as the tension rises to an unbearable extent. Now, it is seen as a feminist masterpiece that directly addresses the dominance men exert over women within patriarchal structures.
Watch the film below.
