Charlotte Appleyard
The Artist is Present
Walk through Walls: A Memoir
By Marina Abramović with James Kaplan
Fig Tree 370pp £20 order from our bookshop
Performance art isn’t typically something we consider very funny, at least not intentionally. More often it evokes images of wan-faced waifs in unitards, attempting to describe the agonies of the human experience through mime. Marina Abramović uses performance art to tackle the big themes of life and death, forcing us to question the nature of art and what it is to be alive. So you’d be forgiven for being surprised that she’s also extremely funny.
The origins of performance art can be traced to the early 20th century through the work of various groups, such as the Futurists and the Dadaists. Precise description is tricky given the diversity of performers, but it is often defined in antithesis to theatre or gallery-based art. Abramović
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