Review For MOMA

(review) Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present

This show was very impressive and it was the best show I had seen recently along with the show of William Kentridge in MOMA. This show is about Body art more than Newmedia. The contents of the show were very aggressive or challenging. Most of the pictures, installed objects, performances and  projected movies were very graphic and raw. Especially, the live performance of IMPONDERABILIA(1977) , in which two naked performers were standing and facing each other and audience go through between them, was a good example the show.

The artist adopted a lot of film format but the ways which she use was ordinary not special. Some of the movie works were documentation and some of them were video works. It seemed that she focused on the content of the piece more than forms of work.

Her film work "HOLDING MILK" was the best work that integrates the form and  content of piece. In the film, the woman stand and  hold a bowl filled with liquid. At a grace the film was looked like a static picture or photograph. If audience looked carefully, the motion was barely recognizable. It makes me think of the historical context of woman. The attribute of the woman in the film such as cloth and bowl associate house works. In addition the motionless image associates the restriction toward women that were come from conventional idea of woman and also associates women's situation that is shackled by men socially and culturally. Furthermore, the motionless film make audience feel stress that also enhanced the context of the works.