Juxtapoz Magazine - Viewer Portraits During Marina Abramovic’s The Artist Is Present

Viewer Portraits During Marina Abramovic’s The Artist Is Present

Juxtapoz // Tuesday, 08 Jun 2010

We’ve talked about this brave interactive exhibit over its duration at the MoMA in New York City, but to re-cap, The Artist Is Present involves the extreme performance artist sitting in a chair for seven hours per day for six days a week as viewers sit directly across from her and stare back for as long as they want. No motion, no noise, just the ultimate staring game. Intense.

Photographer Marco Anelli shot portraits of the participants who sat across from Abramovi? throughout the process. Mesmerizing and addictive, they raise questions about human connectivity and social norms.

Bear in mind that the exhibition ran from March 14 through May 31, 2010. Seven hours a day. That's hundreds upon hundreds of viewers who stared directly into the face of an iconographic artist, but still a woman they did not know and would never speak to. And Marina acknowledged and started back into each and every one of their faces in return.

You can’t help but wonder: What would I think about? What would Marina think about me? What expression would I make? How long would I last? What would I gain from an experience like that?

Day 1, Portrait 1- 12 min