The Serpentine Gallerypremieres a new durational performance by Marina Abramović:512 Hours. The acclaimed artist performs in the Gallery for the duration of her exhibition: from the 11th of June to the 25th of August 2014, 10am to 6pm, 6 days a week. This is a unique work created for the Serpentine Gallery.
Abramović creates the simplest of environments in the Gallery spaces, where the only materials will be herself, the audience and a selection of props that she may or may not use. On arrival, visitors will both literally and metaphorically leave their baggage behind in order to enter the exhibition: bags, jackets, electronic equipment, watches and cameras may not accompany them.
The public is the performing body, participating in the delivery of an unprecedented moment in the history of performance art. The pared-down nature of this exhibition corresponds to Abramovic´’s interest in the historically well established relationship between art and ‘nothingness’; visual artists including Robert Barry, John Cage, Mary Ellen Carroll, Robert Irwin, Yves Klein, Gustav Metzger and Yoko Ono (to name only a very few) have all explored the notion of material absence within their practice. The idea of emptiness – of minimalism, reduction and simplicity – plays an intrinsic role in Abramovic´ ’s own work, and has increasingly led to ‘more and more of less and less’, a longstanding aim that she recorded in her Artist’s Life manifesto of 2009. It is this journey towards immateriality that has led her to this unique moment in her work, where she will commit to an unscripted and improvised performance in the gallery space.
Marina Abramović is a pioneer of performance as an art form, using her own body as subject and object, she has pushed the physical and mental limits of her being. In the early 1970s, as a young artist in Belgrade, Abramović began exploring the relationship between artist and audience. Since 1978 she has conducted a series of workshops with art students, using a series of simple exercises to increase physical and mental awareness. Over the course of her career, Abramović has continued to develop these workshops, expanding their scope to reach a general public, through the Marina Abramović Institute.
This is the first major performance by Abramović since her monumental piece The Artist is Present, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2010, in which visitors were invited to sit in silence opposite the artist and gaze into her eyes for an unspecified amount of time.
Watch Marina’s daily diaries here
Special Event:
Sun 29 Jun 2014 – 1:00pm
Gate Picturehouse
Serpentine Cinema: Movement, with Wayne McGregor, curated by Marina Abramović
Movement is the first in a series of screenings and conversations curated by Marina Abramović on the occasion of her exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery.
- Artists:
Marina Abramović - Open:
Wednesday, 11 June 2014 - Close:
Monday, 25 August 2014 - Address:
Serpentine Galleries Kensington Gardens London W2 3XA - Mail:
information@serpentinegalleries.org - Phone:
+44 20 7402 6075 - Web:
Serpentine - Opening hour:
everyday | 10am – 6pm - Closing day:
1st and 2nd July - Admission:
The exhibition is free of charge. The exhibition is only for ages 12 and over. By entering the exhibition spaces you confirm that you agree to being filmed and photographed. You will be required to leave all bags, coats and electronic items in the lockers (including cameras, recording devices and mobile phones). Due to limited capacity, you may need to queue.The queue is located outside the gallery entrance. We advise all visitors to bring water, sunscreen and an umbrella for the time you may be required to wait. You are invited to stay as long as you wish in the exhibition. You may leave whenever you choose.The exhibition is wheelchair accessible. Those who leave the exhibition are not permitted to re-enter automatically and will need to queue. - Photo credits:
1.Marina Abramović, Photograph © Marco Anelli, 2014; 2. Marina Abramović, Marina in Black coat in the forest, Portrait of Marina Abramović © Kunt Bry and Ekebergeparker Oslo, 2013; 3. Marina Abramović, Black and White photo, Marina conducting rehearsal for “Bolero”, Portrait © Rahi Rezvani, Paris 2013
