Marina Abramovich returns to China with a new exhibition – 36 years after her famous Great Wall

She recorded herself playing a knife game, methodically sliding the blade between her splayed fingers, inevitably cutting her body and moaning. Then there is footage of her beating her body before lying naked and bloodied on the ice. And who can forget the clips of her trekking thousands of kilometers across the Great Wall of China to meet her lover, only to break up on arrival? This long march 36 years ago inspired her latest work.

Serbian performance artist Marina Abramović walks along the Great Wall of China in 1988. Photo: Courtesy of Maryna Abramovych

So, when performance artist Maryna Abramovich, 77 years old, says that neither age nor poor health slows her down, one wants to believe that she is serious and will always be “here and now”.

A Serb who lives in New Yorkloves this phrase, explaining some of his creations with it, including The artist is present. In 2010, this landmark work attracted the attention of 750,000 visitors, including Lady Gagato the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where for two and a half months Abramovich sat on a chair for eight hours straight a day – without breaks for food, drink or the toilet – inviting the audience to take their place across from her and close their eyes in silence as long as they wanted.

Reprogramming Levitation 2 by Maryna Abramovych, 2000. Aluminum, liquid brass paint, brass cable and fasteners, natural transparent quartz. Photo: Maryna Abramovych

The feat of endurance marked a pivotal moment in art history and cemented her reputation as a pioneer who pushed body and mind beyond boundaries to bring performance art from the fringes into the mainstream.

In an interview with PostMag on the eve of his first exhibition in ChinaAbramovich reflects on his endurance while talking about a knee replacement and a recent near-death experience. “My generation stopped working 20 years ago,” she says, her eyes sparkling behind large black horn-rimmed glasses. “I’m the only one still performing.”

But the show in Shanghai also shows that the artist is ready to act differently. For the first time, Abramovich will shift the focus of his exhibition from himself to the audience, encouraging them to be performers rather than passive observers.

Departure shoes of Maryna Abramovych (1991/2017). Photo: Courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery

“I did everything with performance. I’ve done it for so long and I don’t want to do it again. All the things I did when I was young and full of energy are one thing. But the world has changed, and I have changed,” she says. “So my vision for my work right now is how can I get the audience to perform and have the experience that I’ve had in my work and how that experience can change them.”