Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (2012)

A documentary that follows the Serbian performance artist as she prepares for a retrospective of her work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Directors:

Matthew Akers, Jeff Dupre (co-director)

Stars:

Marina Abramovic, Ulay, Klaus Biesenbach

6 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Marina Abramovic	...	Herself
Ulay	...	Himself
Klaus Biesenbach	...	Himself
David Balliano	...	Himself (as Davide Balliano)
Chrissie Iles	...	Herself
Arthur Danto	...	Himself
David Blaine	...	Himself
James Franco	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rushka Bergman	...	Herself
Orlando Bloom	...	Himself
Tim Duquette	...	Subway Photo Shoot
Brian Lane Moore	...	Himself
Ingrid Sischy	...	Herself
Ashton Swinford	...	MOCA Performer
Marcus White	...	Himself

Storyline

This feature-length documentary film follows the artist as she prepares for what may be the most important moment of her life: a major retrospective of her work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. To be given a retrospective at one of the world's premiere museums is, for any living artist, the most exhilarating sort of milestone. For Marina, it is far more - it is the chance to finally silence the question she has been hearing over and over again for four decades: 'But why is this art?'

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | History

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 July 2012 (Russia)

Also Known As:

Marina Abramovic: A Artista Está Presente

Filming Locations:

Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,041, 17 June 2012, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$86,217, 7 October 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Show of Force,AVRO Close Up,Dakota Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color Black and White

Did You Know?

Quotes

Arthur Danto: For most masterpieces, people stand in front of it for 30 seconds. "Mona Lisa" - 30 seconds. People come and sit here all day.

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Connections

Featured in Balkan Spirit (2013)

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Soundtracks

Seltzer, Do I Drink Too Much
By Zhurbin, Lev (as Lev 'Ljova' Zhurbin)

User Reviews

so glad i've got a steady job

Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present is a rather detailed documentary about the exhibition of the same name at MoMA in 2010. It won't change your opinion about it, though. Whether you agree that Marina is the "grandmother of performance art" or you feel that contemporary art is nothing but hot air, those points of view are left unchallenged.

There is little background information about the artist, which should be standard for a movie determined to address a much wider audience than art aficionados. So we're left with a lot of people asserting Marina's importance for the history of arts and some archive footage to corroborate that.

There's no doubt The Artist Is Present is as a milestone for the arts of the 21st century, but at this point a movie about it is just another documentary.

By the way, my favorite moment is when in the background of an interview a visitor to the exhibition asked which one of the two sitting was Marina. How imperceptible must you be to visit a museum where walls of each room are covered with photos and videos of the artist and not recognize her? Or was it just another consumer who's been told not to miss the event? After all, someone in the movie mentioned "market for Marina's work" and she admitted liking life's simple pleasures, such as shopping designer clothes in Paris...