“The Artist Is Present” Artistic Re-Enactments and the Impossibility of Presence Amelia Jones

“The Artist is Present” Artistic Re-enactments and the Impossibility of Presence Amelia Jones

Figure 1. Marina Abramovic;: The Artist is Present, 2010. Performance view, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2010. (Photo courtesy Marco Anelli)

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Impossibility of Presence 17 - The The 1 The vis- as the 2 Self Image: Self Image: — enactments. The museum’s enactments. reveals instantly in its title. Feminism and Visual Culture Reader Visual Culture and Feminism

3 enactments of the artist’s 1970s performances by younger dancers had a table placed between herself explicitly and re-staging the the perfor- other chair, : The Artist Artist is Present The ;: Abramovic Marina Seeing Differently: Identification Visual and Arts. the Seeing Differently: A Companion to Contemporary Art 2006). Since 1945 Fol (Wiley-Blackwell, Perform, Repeat, Record: Live Art Repeat, Record: in History (with Perform, coeditor andAdrian Heathfield) a (University of Minnesota Press, 1998), Jones’s books include 1998), Jones’s of Minnesota Press, the (University Subject Body Art/Performing

(a Sea Crossing series Night begun in 1981), which she and Ulay had enacted at various venues around the

performers. performers. Most dramatically the center of MoMA’s large dazzlingly white modernist interior Most court- dramatically the center of MoMA’s Claims of presence and authenticity are extremely common in discussions of performance art both from art his- example, torical filmand For andperformance artstudies historypoints of view. scholar CatherineElwes noted in 1985, “[p]erformance art offers women a uniquevehicle for making that direct unmediated access [to the audience]. is Performance about the presence‘real-life’ of the artist [...]. standsNothing between spectator and want to scapegoat an Elwes, important theorist of feminist performance, performer” (165). here; in I mak- don’t ing these claims, she is completely typical of most writing on performance art particularly in the art context from the 1970s through the 1990s and even into the present. The; first weeks Abramovic mance world, sitting across from each other with a large table the in table between. She removed partway through the whom I roughly three-month length of the Sean Kelly, show (14 May 2010); March–31 to according her dealer, spoke with while I was waiting the in artist, line this to was “visit” because she felt the table distanced her - psycho logically from the individuals she faced (Kelly 2010). organization (Schlenzka 2010). Schlenzka Assistant clarifiedJenny Curator the process of the show’s However, in the Abramovic; this dependence and case, of MoMA on documentation (before, However, ual culture. Her recent publications recent include ual Her the culture. edited volumes 1. 2. 3. itation element, for itation which element, she sat every day the Museum and was for open, the entire time it The retrospective as a whole, of the “presence” artist enacted in was the a open, literal way. curated by Klaus Biesenbach in close Abramovic;’s consultation interest with extended the artist, in (often her own) and performance her histories, claims for the authenticity of live art and the emotional impact of durational performance. yard (visible in a spectacular vista from the galleries Abramovic; above) sitting featured in a chair across from another chair in which museum visitors could engage with her live-ness. exhibition galleries were staged with the actual van she and her performance partner from the claimed for signaling “presence” the drove Australian the across desert, brute the Ulay, 1970s, performance ephemera that dominated the retrospective of this important artist from Serbia, The with galleries melodramatically themselves, darkened walls, City. now based York in New were filled with spotlighted vitrines containing objects presumably deployed in the original performances and with screenings of digital video transfers of contemporaneous film and One video entire documentation. large gallery was replete with ; Abramovic photographs of from her birth onward and ephemera controver relating the to In galleries, her addition, life. included several live re- sially, and Technology, Representation, and the Representation, Contemporary projects (Routledge, are 2006). current Subject Her Technology, an edited volume book tentatively entitled lowing lowing on 2004) and Dada (MIT Press, York History A Neurasthenic of Modernism: Irrational New Amelia Jones is Professor and Grierson Chair in Visual Culture at McGill University in Montréal. She in at Montréal. University McGill Visual Culture and is Chair Grierson Professor in Jones Amelia has organized exhibitions on contemporary and art anti-racist and approaches to on feminist, queer, vis (Routledge, 2010) and

’s performance art career at New York’s Museum of 2010 retrospective Abramovic ;’s of performance Marina art career York’s at New Art (MoMA), Modern The live act is most often privileged as body delivering an “present” authentic and web documentation (paralleled by dozens of spontaneous websites put up during the show to during, and after during, the actual time of the exhibition’s display) to spread the word “pres- of her and its ence” supposedly points transformative to effects, obdurate contradictions in the recent obsession and with its its live histories, documentation art, and re- Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

18 Amelia Jones performance theorize and historicize to ways find to seeking history) art as (such at visitor a as no strongly is paradox “presence”there this such.that felt as fact I the to points past) the into escaping already always as body the of enacting (its durationality and materiality bining event,place.performance,the takes com- the But it by which at what moment very “is”the at of observer an to transparency a promises it myself; and perceive I what of place and time in this of experience.“real”emptiness art noisy live the escape to performance about books reading to revert to wanting performance.myself anything,and found If art I of a of historian admired,“body”self-induced) a long a largely as have and (albeit I “body” work of spectacularization the at distressed exhausting.bit so a something and to depressed herself And sculpture.and painting modernist for claimed long so MoMA) as such institutions in apotheosis its to (brought discourse art ernist of mod- reception that “true”and resonance expression emotional authentic of structure the of parody spectators,inadvertent guards,an the like the felt this event).“managers”me the For of other artist,the the but just (not others with exchange relational of simulation relation,a but spectacle a in participating of one strongly very was overall experience hers),the (including and gazes photographic and individual myriad of object the myself felt me,primarily before I there sitting was force cultural and ist art- an as respect I whom and met have I person the transformative.that or aware felt I Though energizing,but personal,anything be to exchange the found I personally say lights,can klieg I visitors,staring by cameras,of lit dozens and by ring, surrounded boxing itself a like barrier a by MoMA,of tional.surrounded atrium the from in across Abramovic; sat who Thus,someone as body,evident).the marks self,representa- act the as live of The expression an as understood itself act live the that fact very art.live about know can we what of limits the histories,explore performance to of dilemma the on light raking a work,casts assertive which and bold her use practice,to but New in York.motivation political a has investigation critical My re- of series 2005 project,in recent Abramovic;’s from across only Abramovic;.sat not who out visitors play of contradictions photographs These documentation web) case this (in on ence pres- of concept any of dependence the reveals yet and herself artist the by made presence for claims the on other draws of “visitors”) photographs and/or experiences personal document “Presence” as commonly understood is a state that entails the unmediated co-extensivity unmediated the entails that state a is understood “Presence”commonly as to visitor anything,a If as Paradoxically,the presence,to manifest points to desire practice, its recent in Abramovic;’s “presence”; their website, which went live during the show and is still active, proclaims: active, still is and show the during live went which website, their “presence”; her of effects mythical and artist’stranscendent the the exaggerating, for claims own promoted clearly MoMA (MoMA 2010) (MoMA [...] artwork. the in participants becoming choosing, their of duration a for artist the from across silently sit to encouraged Visitorswere 2010. May 31 and March 14 between Donald the in Art’sperformed Modern Abramovic; of retrospective, performance first exhibition the For 1970s. early the in work her of medium and object, subject, the as body own her using Yugoslavia,(born began Abramovic; 1946) Marina art, performance of pioneer A . This paradox haunts performance studies and other discourses The other Presentand .is studies Artist performance haunts paradox This art. B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium every day the Museum was open was Museum the day every Atrium Marron C. Catherine and B. enactments of 1970s performances at the Solomon R.Museum Solomon Guggenheim the at performances 1970s of enactments is Abramovic ;’sis date. Present to is performance Artist longest The show by putting forth, and even and forth, putting by show Present is Artist The The Present is Artist The Presentin ,is also Artist but (or makes the impossibility of its being secured being its of impossibility the makes (or presence destroys , The Museum The Present, is Artist The Abramovic;: Marina — not an emotionally or energetically charged interpersonal charged energetically or emotionally an not — including,MoMA’son website,own a “gallery”of I felt vaguely sorry that Marina was subjecting was Marina that sorry vaguely felt I her important her Pieces, Easy Seven — not to debunk to Abramovic;’s not — to exhibit and sell and exhibit to — live Impossibility of Presence 19 - -

- The — continu- enactment enactment

5 and her self-presentation in ; for “presence”; “true ; for body for the ), activates Seven Easy precisely Pieces), the The difficulty of positing the truth of per 4 . It thus . exposes repetition the paradox of that a period when performances in the European — Seven Seven Easy Pieces not even (if this could be imagined) as lodged within the — will be published as “The Artist as Archaeologist: AnInterview withMarina you are just I doing think it. this re-enacted performance enactments enactments in — enactments marks the current fascination with retrieving live events that In the art and performance worlds this has taken the form of an obsessive 6 Perform, Repeat, Record: Live Art Live in History Repeat, Record: (forthcoming[a]).Perform, ” in Lips of Thomas: Lips of

or that but there it “present.” was, was never protention)” (1973:64). is It in thisonly senseexists thatas “presence” a fantasy or a construct to anchor us —

When one puts the questions this way, it becomes painfully When clear one that puts there the is questions no this original way, These pointsJacquesDerrida are made by in his deconstruction of the philosophy of presence in the work of deconstructive strategy is to Edmund raise Husserl. Derrida’s the spectre of nonpresence at the core of every presence of the perceived present can moment: appear “the as such only inasmuch as “present” it is ously compounded with a nonpresence and nonperception, with primary memory and expectation (retention and (phantasmagorically) and (playingin theon now, the phrase “in the blink of an to eye” call forth the idea of the instant), Derrida notes that as soon as we admit nonpresence into the instant, we admit that “[t]here is duration to the blink, and it closes (65). the eye” The 2007 interview; withAbramovic ; Abramovic Beyond Beyond art and performance there has been a huge surge of interest in re-enactment societies that restage histor- in the US. ical See the events, such historyas the War of Civil re-enactment in terms of these more popular uses ;’s Abramovic Looking re- at Re-enactment, currently a Re-enactment, hugely popular strategy in the art and performance worlds and The interest in re- When you re-do your own work you can really see the bigger picture; the first time you can’t see what’s going on was much better than I the really original. did the at but best I that I I think, time, could, (in Jones forthcoming[a]) didn’t have the consciousness I have now. 4. 5. 6. , I Artist findis , thatPresent what her recent in projects spite expose, of claims in the media to the form ofis “authentic” the that livethere or event cannot be “truthful” a definitively contrary, even at the moment of its enactment be a body therefore, re- that There originally cannot, performed or experienced it. that faithfully renders the Where truth would of such this a original version event. of the live event reside at any rate? In performer(s) the or minds/bodies “original” spectator(s)? of In the the documents that seem indexically to fix in happened? time In and “really” the space what spaces where it took place? event

At the time of the “original,” in the mid-1970s At the time “original,” of the and often frequently undocumented, spontaneous American and context North were raw, she Abramovic; performed in small galleries in Europe for Today a select art world audience. is at the forefront of an What industrial-strength institutionalization of performance histories. of the “contains” original her event body is (by her own admission) unavailable to conscious What we get in the retrieval. re-enactment is a willed aestheticization of the original versions of Thomas. Lips of Abramovic;’s own by beyond importantly, (as signaled, event”) and the impossibility of ever fixing The this re-enactment in both space tes- and time. tifies to our desire to know the past in order to secure ourselves in the present and the paradox of that knowledge always taking place through proving our knowledge, own inexorable mortality: the fact that we are always reaching to secure and always time, failing. and so views, on. took place and are now known only through filmarchival and inter documents, video clips, tension between our desire for the material (for the other’s formance as lying in the minds/bodies of the original performer was Abramovic;’s exposed by when own I admission, interviewed her about in her 2007, 2005 re-enactment of her 1975 per formance Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

20 Amelia Jones acknowl always making. arts temporality,These history to of body, the structures and objecthood, situation withthevisualarts, music, dance, andtheatrehaveanentirelydifferent in thefirstplacetomodernistbeliefsandvalues1950sonward). Incontrasttothe posed art performance challenge the (hence objects static around revolve which of institutions marketing. to linked itself practice a is careers performance particular substantiate that criticism art and books all,academic writing after market; the of pressure in the works to “history”performance linked important is secure to historians art or scholars studies performance of motivation political and intellectual purely seemingly histories.the and Even objects of markets the in place its work the secure to thus and re- to its developed and/or “document”been work have the that methods of range actors to restage famous (“singular”) performances of famous rock gigs, such as David Bowie’s Bowie’s David as gigs, such rock famous of performances (“singular”) famous restage to actors dance and/ormusicalevents enactments ofpreviouslywrittenand/orknownsongs, someperformativere- almost alldanceandmusicalconcerts(excepttherareentirelyimprovisationalevent)arere- aesthetics and durationality between contradiction the expose that art,works live ephemeral or performance of histories in interest history). in and “past,”time in existence own its about questions raising past simultaneously as art “unique.”of works of value the substantiate to requires discourse pressure of the global art market attached to the visual arts. visual the to attached market art global the of pressure the from largely results act to live impulse the “re-enact”the document argue or could one presence? of claims such for implications ideological the are is someone “present”? claim we And,when mean finally,we what know speaking,we do what mean? viewer And,and philosophically artist more of proximity in putting this as: does What spective retro- the of part central the as (as did her Abramovic; with engage or confront to wish we as retrospective: MoMA the of title the in situation proclaims the Abramovic; for desire our of impossibility the 9. 8. 7.

two were intertwined), see Joan Acocella, “Think Pieces: Return of the the Joan of see Pieces: Return Judsonites”Acocella,“Think were intertwined), two (2010). the (as period this from performance re-doing in interest the to related clearly 1970s, and 1960s the from dance Re- My argument here is that the re-enactment actually establishes itself from the get-go as get-go the from itself establishes actually re-enactment the that is here argument My 2008), Auslander’sPhillip see liveness and performance, music, On Paradox?”A History: (2008). Art in Art “Live article my see performance to approach history art and studies performance a between distinctions the on Commodity Fetish”as And (2006). Artist Contemporary “The essay my see artist, the and artwork the of commodification the On participates. extent some to essay this course of which in re-enactment, and umentation doc- performance of topics the on written texts and exhibitions of surge recent the in structures borrowingthese theory, and history so high in their attempts to ward off embodiment and durationality and embodiment wardoff to attempts their in theory,high so history and criticism, art of stakes the make that art of works of commodifiable, and static forms, material the precisely It is Feministand Phenomenology Theory” in (in 2010:482–91). Essay Jones An Constitution: SeeDerrida’s, “SignatureEvent Butler’s and Context”(1982:309–30); “Performative1988 Gender Actsand performance. of theories their in withJudithButler Things Doand Derrida by elaborated and Words(1967) Austin’sJ.L. from drawn performative the of theories nowclassic the to course of referringHere am I (forthcoming). theory performance to relation in societies re-enactment historical on work new ducing Howardin Giles’s “A pro- is Re-enactment”PerformanceRebeccaSchneider of (2009). scholar BriefHistory art The re-enactment also exposes the centrality of the marketplace in all of these expressions; these of all in marketplace the of centrality the exposes also re-enactment The — enactments haveaparticularlyfraughtrelationshiptothevisualarts, thediscoursesand it is a reiteration, a performative re-doing reiteration,performative a a is it — edged theirrelianceonthescriptthatpassesdownthroughtimetobe “redone.” and Jonathanand Sterne’s and 30 years earlier in earlier years 30 and . While the artist may be sitting before us in a chair for as long as for chair a in us The before Presentsitting .is be Artist may artist the While representationaland (2003). And, on the trend towards re-towards trend the on The Audible And, (2003). Past — notably theworkofIainForsythandJanePollard, whohire opposite Ulay) questions are raised,are such questions Ulay) opposite Crossing Sea Night (it is a live re-doing of something already done in the in done already something of re-doing live a is (it live — between the passage of time and the materiality that art that materiality the and time of passage the between — and one that itself becomes instantaneously becomes itself that one and Liveness: Performance in a MediatizedCultureLiveness:Performancea in ([1999] 8 This market pressure inspires the inspires pressure market This 7 In so doing it exposes it doing so In enactments of experimental experimental of enactments — and performance is performance and enactments of relationship enactments How To To How 9 While Impossibility of Presence 21 Allan cum- event- Until recently, Until recently, Abramovic;’s 10 11 a belief system that — deal explicitly with these tensions among deal explicitly with these tensions among — whether this means literal redone performance works, — Night Sea Crossing as an attempt to bring “Eastern” models with Burden’s photographs, texts, and relics now displayed, bought, and and sold relics bought, as with texts, now Burden’s displayed, photographs, —

artworks). artworks).

Burden’s practice in the 1970s marked an unusual Burden’s awareness of the importance of addressing the issue of future presentation of past performances. He commented extensively on his awareness of documentation and his use of relics in a recent phone interview (2010). Thesere-stagings tookHappening Kaprow scripts as jumping off points, recognizing the impossibility offreez- work with a exemplary former or stu- iconic moments, movements, or images. As Lacy, ing Suzanne Kaprow’s dent ofput Kaprow, it: “The conundrum work is of how Allan’s to move it into the museum, which was so fraught for him. I wanted to capture the partwork thatof Allan’s was the most significant to him and the most ephemeral. And that is the experience of his work as it becomes part of, and lives on in, someone memory” else’s 2008). (in Finkel ; Abramovic has described of temporal experience viewers; to in “Western” this description she notes her time with Ulay engaging monks aboriginals as in the Australia backdrop and for Tibetan her creative urge to establish presence: or “I Aborigines, spend or time decide with Tibetans to be just by myself on a little island somewhere in the Pacific. And there I get the energy and ideas for art. Then I come back society to and Western serve as a bridge. [...] When I say ‘the East,’ I think of nature too. Here in nature the is West already very disturbed. But if you go to the Sahara or Desert to in the India, Gobi there Desert is or the Tar still this purity of nature and pure vibrations that call. I need that to develop my mind and to reach the level on which I can create” (in Wijers [1990] n.d.). Here, Abramovic;’s language familiarly recalls that of the European modernists with their yearning for a more truthful experience, found often among “primitive” cultures strikingly parallels the desire for live art to deliver presence. As much postcolonial and poststructuralist a theory belief suggests, in ideologically, presence as articulated in this way is in fact an artifact of European early-modern to modern belief systems, conditioned through European colonization of Africa and other parts of the world. Histories of performance art proper the (that genre is, defined discursively in these very his- In contrast to this common situation within histories and exhibitions of performance up

10. 11. penultimate performance as Ziggy Stardust in 1973 been featured in Forsyth and Pollard’s work has arts. and the visual performance art, music, expansion of but it deals with the in art galleries, recent shows on performance re-enactment performances. rock music events into visually elaborate tories by authors such as Roselee Goldberg) have tended to devolve around a handful of iconic photographs and or textual in descriptions, some Artistscases suchfilm as or video footage. Chris Burden in the early 1970s set the stage for such approaches by documenting their work (in Burden’s case) “relics.” with single brief and iconic textual images, accounts, this reliance on these documents and descriptions by performance historians and curators was rarely scrutinized or questioned for the way in which it paradoxically reduces the celebrated act to “live” singular (and as commodifiable) While objects Burden, of display and exchange. can an be artist, viewed as ironic in his deadpan reliance on these art material histori- remains, and performance curators, studies scholars ans, miss the point if they simply take these remains “proof”as as of even somehow some worse, the singular version of the event (or, artwork itself artwork or by elaborate the and same often or more a conceptual different homages author, inspired by as earlier in works, the Allan restaging Kaprow’s of Happenings during the retrospective in Art 2008. as Angeles, Life at Kaprow: Los the Museum Art, of Contemporary unique through the 1990s, through the the massive 1990s, resurgence of interest in performance art and its histories over the past five years has increasingly been worked through in relation to some variation on a newly developed re-enactment format Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

22 Amelia Jones off and the car pushed back into the garage. The door was closed. was door The garage. the into back pushed car the and off turned was engine the minutes, two After minutes. two for speed full at run was engine the Speedway.me, into for out Screaming half-way pushed was car the and opened was car.the of door roof garage the The into palms my through driven were Nails roof. the car,the onto of arms section my rear stretching the over Volkswagen.back my on lay I a of bumper rear the on Avenue,Textstood Speedway I on garage small a Inside reads: inches. (Courtesy of Jasper Johns Collection, New York,Collection, JohnsJasper New of York)(Courtesy inches. 1/4 6 x 1/4 6 x 7/8 6 Case: nails; 2 Relic: Burden:1976. Relics , exhibition FeldmanRonaldthe the in Galleryat displayed relicsBurden,Figurefor and Chris text 3. , 23 April 1974, 1974, Venice, April California. 23 fixed , FigureIconic2. photograph of Trans-FixedBurden,Chris . Trans-Fixed as 1974; , Chris Trans- Impossibility of Presence 23 as a way

— enactments. enactments. archive” of the work in one archive” of its permutations, most of the artists involved in this — years of intense politicization

—

in Gmelin’s case also an event of TheBattle, ofOrgreave 2001. Commissioned and — enactments as in Gmelin’s video and the Deller/ enactments presented in visual arts and/or — enactments of Mark Tribe and his Port Huron Project, seeand Project, Huron his Port enactmentsTribe of Mark enactments and performance art history exhibitions for the forth - as installed at Tate Britain, London. (© Tate, London, 2010) Tate, Britain, London. (© Tate as installed at Figure 4. Jeremy Deller, Deller, 4. Jeremy Figure produced by Artangel. This is“ the piece. piece.

and - within the aesthetic context of the art gallery. To some degree To within the aesthetic context of the art gallery. 13

— 12 Color enactment enactment); is the most celebrated and best-known example of this surge of re- While, at their re- While, most compelling, 14 Perform, Repeat, Record: Live Art Live in History, Repeat, Record: Jones eds. JonesPerform, andAdrian Heathfield (see Amelia Battle of Orgreave

The

While Abramovic ; was While herself an active performance artist in a the period 1970s, of - explo of insisting on the importance of Thisreturnthose ishistories partlyboth nostalgic politically and personally. and partly political: we want to know how to be political in a world in which there are no longer clear binaries or guidelines. kind of work were born between 1960 and 1970; most of the events re-enacted took place during the heyday of political activism, during the ’60s and ’70s, and in the UK up through the failed 1984 strike,miners’ which marked the death knell in Britain for 1960s ideals of political change. I would conjecture, having been born in 1961 myself, that these artists are redoing their own formative years I have compiled an extensive timeline of re- coming forthcoming[b]). work and the important On protest Hayes’s re- Schneider (2010). There is an interesting generational issue with the politicalre- Deller, Hayes, and Gmelin Hayes, re-enact political actions Deller, Seven ; Abramovic Seven Easy re-enacted Pieces six major 1970s body art works at the Guggenheim

sive development in contemporary a performance number art, of younger generation artists have also used the re- mance art works as well). format over the past decade. many of these Interestingly, younger artists choose to re-do political events (although there are many re-enacting perfor 13. 14. 12. In including one of her own Thomas) earlier and works produced (Lips a of Museum York, in New new performance “seventh” as the Seven Seven Easy Pieces, Stockholm-based German artist whose Felix Gmelin, Test, Red Flag II (2002) restaged Test, for videotape a 1968 activist protest in which West students from organized by Berlin, his own father (who was ran their through professor), the streets of the city passing a red flag in a relay. (restaging the failed British miners’ strike using of some 1984, of the original police and strikers in the “actors” re- as Examples of the strategy of re- doing political events include: British artist Jeremy Deller’s 2001 US artist Sharon Hayes’s recent project having herself photo- graphed with signs from his- toric protests standing on the sites of the original events; Figgis film). in this way they reify these acts into “art,” freezing temporal events in into this things way (albeit they in reify these “art,” acts into some cases maintaining an aspect of the temporal direct personal relevance Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

24 Amelia Jones ferently, engages different audiences in different ways, and has different aesthetic and political ferently,and aesthetic different ways,has different and in audiences different engages dif- as motivated experiments “art.”be psychology to social seems famous project of type Each redoes Dickinson event; original the from ephemera with re-staging this of documentation aligns film and display exhibition through then and event political a contrast,re-stages Deller re- of types produce to settings.“artworks”meant museum never of in were range that huge scripts A from above,colleagues,noted former case artists students, Kaprow other the and as instances,forthcoming[b]).other Jones such In (see Paris in 2003 in herself Ono artists,by and Tokyoyounger of number New a and by York reinterpreted been since has it 1960s; mid the in incarnation earlier their in once than more performed were artworks performance all performance,almost art since iconic an of a establish re-doing “beginning”to the put for hard re-enactment. be fact,of would In type one past).immediately becomes And itself (which present the in authentically performances art original recreate to proposes and documentary,through histories art live engages scrupulously research archival,interview and to Dickinson Abramovic;.to Deller from latter’s The the event has already happened” (in Pil and Gallia Kollectiv 2007).Kollectiv Gallia and happened”Pil already (in has event the scenario,impossible since an is this that know time,they real yet in happening and live thing some- with presented being are they that in contradictory inherently something with presented is 1960s: audience the “The from experiments psychology famous of restagings includes which practice,art his to relation in 1973:64,noted Derrida has 65).Dickinson Rod artist as And senses; the “presence,”through rienced (see performance,representational in is body live the expe- of be kind ever “redo”a only itself can of (as spatiality”life”) performance and “real of ity philosophy,European in presence about beliefs of interrogation his the in “visibil- noted has forms.reified event’s Derrida the Jacques in As and memory human unreliable and contingent any in such as known being ever event ephemeral the of impossibility the to pointing also while arts visual the to cisely,relation in presence of impossibility the activate they that Jeremy author-namethe body,to singular relation a in to coherence back have only does it though visible most “documentation” film,the its around circulating materials relations public the or re-enactment the of part as either way noticeable a in feature not does work,himself (documented) Deller static ultimately re- other the of re- prior of documents,traces material objects,other and of consists it object, though or a even work as coherent “final”presented fully never or is and on the web (see Deller n.d.). Deller (see web the on piece’s the to galleries; art and cinemas television,in BBC showed over transmitted as film the to itself; piece the as configurations various in museums in displayed are which of itself,performance all re-enactment the from documents and relics to re-enacted; being tance impor historical of event an as artwork his into Thatcher-erarefigured now strike,is which events,of things,range processes vast and a in including by brilliantly tendency this interrogates reflexively documentation.of forms via galleries in presentation their in plays dis- aesthetic conventional into turned themselves ironically also events,are political they and artworks live documenting for bases accepted previously the interrogate contexts performance 15.

These are vastly different examples of re- of examples different vastly are These re- of paradox the crystallizes project Deller’s In the best cases the artists actively acknowledge this contradiction.this Deller,acknowledge actively artists the cases best example,the for In self- Lewandowska, “ALewandowska, ShadowMarx” of (2006). Marysia and NeilCummings see activism political Marxist of mode a as piece the of reading important For an Deller. enactments drawing on visual arts conceits and institutional contexts thus exist.thus In contexts institutional and conceits arts visual on drawing enactments enactments tellingly substitute the re-enactor as new and as unique “author”re-enactor a the of substitute tellingly enactments 15

— Crucially, — the work in its infinite permutations does not tend to devolve to tend not does permutations infinite its in work the was by no means the first or the last of this of last the or first the means no by was Pieces Easy Seven for example,for Yokoinfluential Ono’s The — enactments in the art and performance worlds,performance and art the in enactments changing continually is Orgreaveitself of Battle from objects and images relating to the initial the to relating images and objects from enactments in the art context art the in enactments project (as we will see) will we (as project Pieces Easy Seven enactments.Notably, too,many while The Battle of Orgreaveproject of Battle The was enacted in enacted was Piece Cut — reinterpret works reinterpret the fact,the pre- presence but highly - —

Impossibility of Presence 25 -

—

non-art universal” in the end, in the end, work —

16 this would be to throw our hands up and admit a belief central to the development of art criticism can activate the disavowal at the heart of our - rela [1986]). — — act as if we can interpret these works through a judgment that act as if the works are graspable in some full and knowable (fixed) Critique of Judgment enactments enactments the question of or what social happens political, sci- when art,

, due of Critique Judgment in part to its profound influence on 20th-century modernist art criticism, is still

It is worth returning brieflyhere to the most influential theory of aesthetics in Euro- Even the most sophisticated performance theorist/historian argues “as her if” points her See See my discussion of this tendency“fixing” in Time, these discourses of the visual arts inmy essay “Performance: (2009). and ‘Value’” Space Cultural Kant’s a benchmark for understanding the obdurate contradictions at play in the human (subjective and sensory) - rela tionship to things in the world that we want to call art, which we thus want toor have “ an “objective” meaning and value. Kant attempts to resolve this impossible contradiction by noting “[t]he universal voice is [...] In all cases of re- the strategy of re-enactment In this way, defeat at the hands of time. In American the thought. terms of aesthetic theory sketched by Kant over 200 years ago in we must Critique , of Judgment compels agreement; we must way even though our entire point is often that they are ephemeral and impossible to retrieve except through moments of subjective perception and interpretation. interpretations hold water “assomewhere if”in relatively fixed form, they are not dependent on material traces after character the of immutable “gone” the always act already establishes its in In “non the the presence” world. rush to privilege the supposedly unfixable ephemerality of most the scholars act, or critics writing about live art will tend to downplay (if not completely disavow in many cases) our reliance on photographic and textualfilmic descrip- documentation, and our tions, own This memories tendency of is live understandable acts (if witnessed. regret- while after live all, performance is clearly of interest partly for, because of its table), its liveness, apparent confirmation there of seems presence, to be little point intellectually or politically in engaging with works in a way that truly accommodates the fact that their ephemerality makes them forever inaccessible to full knowledge 16. 17. effects. Key to all of them, however, is an interest in how time, memory, and history is an interest in memory, how Key time, to effects. all however, of them, and how or whether we can retrieve past events social (in [viz. their Deller], political [viz. Abramovic ;] power) by redoing and/or them personal/aesthetic in [viz. Dickinson], some fashion. events in an art context shifts our understanding of their meaning and significance more dramatically than the re-staging of former performative artworks in new But art there contexts. are some potentials and dangers common Although to all all of types these of re- re-enactment. staging gestures have interesting they critical also potential, have the potential to flatten out or aestheticize the act (precisely by evacuating the act of its original political specificity) and thus to reduce or erase the act’s potential for provoking awareness or for transformation or change. Even in the case of re-done body in art after a works all, loosely (made, aesthetic or art context) the act of aestheticization for can The violently Happenings, eradicate their political potential. were never example, meant to be I aesthetically leave pleasing. aside for now a detailed analysis of the nuances of how different re-enactment strategies might be seen to function the most important point to note is that each project would have to be evaluated for its very specific modes of retrieving and past within acts, its ongoing very contexts specific, of- produc tion and reception. entific events are redonein a gallery ormuseum context Surely is re-doing crucial. past tionship to live art the in performance productive “know” (even ways: the we re-enactment per formance itself) is always already in the past even if we are watching it “now,” and yet we formance carry itself) is always already in the past even if we are “now,” watching it into our writing about performance a belief in the possibility of constituting meanings (and knowledge about “as the if”event) these reside somewhere permanently and can be retrieved in their full essence for the present moment and art historical models of interpretation out of 18th-century aesthetics (most importantly, Immanuel Kant’s 1790 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

26 Amelia Jones mance and performance is somehow is performance and mance perfor still enterprise: is an “redoing such in play at contradictions the upon remarked tently yet now,”ephemeral “here (as found be to present).yet past as Abramovic; is event original the of meaning authentic the where site the as itself re-enactment the present to tendency the epitomizes which of documentation and Pieces,performance Easy Seventhe of become case art,”to Abramovic;’s the “frozen already in exposed is that situation paradoxical a encounter.)of acts through mean to comes art how in ago years 200 noted Kant contradiction the precisely out opening self-reflexively.it with play and example this strong understand a is (Burden view,performance,my deploying 2006).in artists Sternad interesting Flores most (in the All already,always action in Legorreta,body Robert becomes live of art” the words “frozen the in arts,visual the of context representational.self,the thus the In is of expression an as understood action,in body the and passing already always is act live the presence; destroys and claims both itself act live the that fact paradoxical the negotiate here noted projects re-enactment The Frozen/Live Art plex durational re- durational plex com- these 2007.document in I artist course the of with And performed I interview extensive an documentation,on existing and of amount large the on based is retelling me.my to So able avail- performances documentation Pieces of “live,”Easy form every read and seen have I though my to “direct”contrast of In experience discourse.in circulates it as work the in participates itself that reiteration of form a inevitably presence.secure to art live of promise the of art.ticity”live By of “delivering”us, to Abramovic; the via “authen- case status, this cultural in confirm reciprocally to an functions degree “extra”) some to viewer the (with structure artist-gallery the which in way the confirm to functioned Marina named Abramovic;. author the by up summed value and meaning later, years thefive performing artist. “presence” of the indicate) of to was show,MoMA the (as and re-enactment of genius a as artist the substantiate to works Pieces Easy histories. art Reciprocally, performance of discourse ratified newly a within artist the uate documentation,sit- of to sites the and Guggenheim the of setting institutional the works,of and fact the after made film and catalogue the and recording; photography,through event the of documentation the event; the audio,film about and written whole a as Pieces Easy Seven and knowable “over”).something into instant,freezing every its at present Thus the of erosion (the pastness of encroachment same the by performance,re-enactment,plagued a the is itself this secure personally.“truth”to or attempt historically any of failure necessary course of And enunciation its of only moment is very “alive”performance the the at that cates indi- forthcoming[a]).dead”statement Jones it’s poignant (in otherwise of perform; kind This enactment” of sorts of enactment”re- sorts Abramovic;’s of textual and “re- interpretive self-reflexive adequately hope I but necessary a perform I here accompanying the show).the accompanying catalogue the in (particularly describe I documentation of wealth the to reader the directing projects.these in strategies deploys Abramovic; Accordingly,here,sparingly illustrations use I The re-enactment foregrounds the desire for the live and the tendency of the live always live the of tendency the and live the for desire the foregrounds re-enactment The In order to explore how this process of meaning-making functions with functions meaning-making of process this how explore to order In of structure “present”mythological a substantiate to past the retrieved Pieces Easy Seven re- to relation in here sketching am I contradictions the for model productive a is disavowal and claim simultaneous “true.” be to claim must Hiswe that idea an yet and 6,) section moment, second idea” an 1986: only ([1790] enactments. enactments here with still photographs still with here enactments — the performances; the press put out by the museum and articles and museum the by out put press the performances; the . For me the performance only has sense when you when sense has only performance the living.me For enactments , I did not view any of the of any The view Presentnot ,is did Artist I — ended up exposing the lie the exposing The up ended Present is Artist for any textual description and analysis is analysis and description textual any for — — pivots around the artist’s use of past of use artist’s the around pivots belying the range of documentary of range the belying The Present is Artist herself has consis- has herself Seven Easy Pieces, Easy Seven — he seems to be to seems he — indicating the indicating Seven Seven - Impossibility of Presence 27 Seven Seven The Entering Seedbed as mediated Each of the — 19 How to Explain Pictures to (1974), a (1974), Body Pressure pm to midnight) over each of ) I am writing of the works of 18 in this case, in I this cannot case, comment on — that I do not. — at even were the those Guggenheim, rare few who might : Experiencing Performance as Documentation” (1997:11–18). as Documentation” in absentia: Performance Experiencing , in which , she supposedly stalked the male Genital Panic Action Pants: (1973), The an Conditioning endurance (1973), piece in which Pane laid on a clearly on a not discursive on level, a level of embodied memory (whatever that may

, Abramovic; researched five relativelySeven Easy well-knownPieces, pieces by other- art

On this On point, see my article “‘Presence’ Relatively in Relatively the sense that performance histories have only recently begun to be established, and so these works near are nowhere at the level of visibility in specialized histories or the more popular consciousness of contempo- feminist appropriation art. celebrity portraits or even Barbara Kruger’s raneous artworks such as Warhol’s Andy It is limiting but also perhaps in some ways appropriate that I did not see the works at the The term “frozen art” was articulated by the Chicano activist and artist Robert Legorreta, collaborators, Gronk and Patssi of aka Legorreta’s the cross-dressed diva “Cyclona.” Two formed the core of Asco, Valdez, the activist Chicano/a performative art group in Los Angeles from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, which also included Harry Gamboa and Willie Herrón. Legorreta spoke at length with Jennifer Flores Sternad about the fluidityof his work, along with and that Mundo of Meza, artists enacting Gronk, elaborately Valdez, costumed cross-gendered personae such as Cyclona in theatrical settings for the making of photographs and then paintings. Legorreta notes of these projects: “What we were doing was capturing live art and putting it into photographs, and then sometimes it would go from the photographs onto canvas or different media. Usually a work of art was already created, like a mural or a painting, and then we would do something live in front of it in order to be part of the artwork. Then we made that into a photograph as one art coined piece. it We ‘frozen art’” project, (in along Flores Sternad 2006:482). Legorreta’s with his collaborators’, enacts precisely the consciousness of history I am interested in here, as well as showing an awareness of the failure of the live to “stick” outside of its representational modes. For . Neither experience, however, feels to more me truthful “authentic” as or more however, Neither Artist experience, is . Present (This and politically. aesthetically, I attempt to understand how each project functions socially, is not at all to say I think people who have been there every night for the seven-hour duration of have each a re-enactment, full or truthful access to But the they performances. certainly have embodied memories and unreliable as these would no doubt be Guggenheim; because of I this am limit, much more aware of how circumscribed my access to the events of the seven nights in November 2005 is my “feelings” or “experience” as I “experience” did above or in describing “feelings” sitting across my from the artist in 18. 19. works was Abramovic; re-enacted for by seven hours (from 5:00 with six the nights, seventh night consisting of her newly commissioned piece entitled the Other Side (in which she inhabited a gargantuan occupying blue the dress, vortex-like cen- famous The spiraling works ter building she of Wright’s of Frank the Lloyd Guggenheim). re-enacted were (in order of their re-performance): Bruce Nauman’s piece never known to have been performed by which Nauman originally himself, consisted of a poster exhorting Acconci’s visitors to press themselves against the Vito gallery wall; and laid under in it which masturbating (1972), he had a ramp built in a gallery York, in New in response to visitors entering the his gallery voice space, projected through a sound system; 1969 c. EXPORT’s VALIE spectators at a porn theatre in the late 1960s wearing a and crotchless disheveled pants, wig, holding a gun; Gina Pane’s a a performance Dead , in Hare which adorned the with artist, his trademark elements of honey, metal frame over lit candles that burned her back; Joseph Beuys’ 1965 Easy Pieces performance art and rethought ists one from of the Western her history own. of be or mean; phenomenology and I neuroscience am aside, not sure we have No any illu- idea). sions of of restating truth, the authentic moment through words drawn here. from memories, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021 Sean Kelly Gallery and the Marina AbramovicMarina the and GallerySeanKelly ; courtesy Maranzano; Attilio New by Museum, York,(Photo 2005. for commissioned FigureAbramovicMarina 5. ; 28 Amelia Jones VALIEdiscuss EXPORTto refused inexplicably that her with did I interview 2007 the al.in et laments 2007:22),Spector she (in and complete or satisfying always piece” not original was the the about find “facts to research the that logue) cata- the in published (also Spector Nancy with crowds.interview the an in admits Abramovic; of case the in long pages (17 performances the during speech both own transcribing Abramovic;’s texts with along of re-dos photographs Abramovic;’s extensive process; of research tion Abramovic ;’s indica- brief information); textual and photographs histories,still performance through for the of “original”documentation (typically brief performance means: following the through presented is the redos of catalogue,Abramovic; each the where at closely looks one if evident is 20. . Solomon R. Guggenheim Guggenheim R. Solomon PiecesSeven Easy . answers when I asked her about it” (forthcoming[a]). (forthcoming[a]). it” about her asked I when answers poster. that of wouldn’t images she different And of lots arethere and studio her in photograph clear any me give the made also she because performance] documented “live” versus of issue the of terms [in contradiction great a well. as poster the made she time same the at in but festival Vienna, film erotic the at theatre this in piece the performed originally she that stated she reality in because piece this about careful most and critical Abramovicwith ; interview Inmy Seedbed , Entering the Other SideOther , the Entering ) and the words of audience members, taped by volunteers mingling among mingling volunteers members,by audience taped of words the and ) Archive) , she explained further: “So the VALIE EXPORT thing again; I was the most most the VALIEwas the “So I again; further: EXPORT thing explained she , Genital PanicGenital with researcher and scholar of performance.of scholar and researcher This sentation repre- of devices reiterative the with ends and begins piece each of documentation and works.the redoing in evoking was she situation of type each of chose,limits the researched,explored and which with Abramovic; care the in part in lies Thomas).of importance The of (Lips herself artist the by work earlier an or EXPORT),on below (see such as occurred have never might itself which (Pane),work a sexuality and gender her to due marginalized herself artist woman a by works),work a or Beuys Acconci (the art performance of history the in work documented well a doing re- her from order different a of clearly is piece) Nauman (the artist initiating the by know,we as far performed actually never was that,work as a re-enact For to Abramovic; case.each in issue at works and bodies the of value and meaning the about work,thus and body,enacting re-enacted versus original an re- versus original an of terms in questions different raises each because descriptions cross.ice an on herself,lying whipping and razor,a with stomach her in star a cutting actions,of including number a performing semi- a 1975 and own Abramovic;’s door; gallery the in window glass a through in peered it,viewers to while whispering leaf,gold hare,iron,dead felt, a and cradled The research,The presentation, performance, loaded relatively with these of all note I narrative performance involving her involving performance narrative — just as for me,for a as for just Abramovic; her. 20

Lips of Lips Thomas, Seven Easy Pieces Easy Seven GenitalPanic is Impossibility of Presence 29 - (Gimblett as Widrich’s research makes Widrich’s as New Zealand ArtNew Monthly — enactment, to work label in to EXPORT’s relation , 1969 Pants (Peter Hassmann, Genital Panic/Action performatively enacted through discourse and photographic performatively enacted through discourse and photographic a few famous black-and-white sitting photographs with of EXPORT — ;’s Abramovic since has, “real about performance” the but “fact” this historical — real real performance given in In I the the the thought, circumstances, theatre [...]. end,

Thisreproduction and caption shows the tendency both torepeat stories circulating around

In fact, it In is refusal fact, worth due to noting to give that, EXPORT’s her further information, It was really difficult to determine the facts about the original piece from all the archeo- Looking logical at you evidence. the see images, that one one was a pose for the poster, was the it was best for me to create (in an Spector 2007:22; image. et emphasis al. added) In (again this we one extraordinary seem “evidence” must case, to be have careful in claiming Figure 6. VALIE EXPORT, one photos of of several EXPORT, VALIE 6. Figure in as the reproduced Archive), online version EXPORT of VALIE © 2005). 2005 re- and, after photograph Abramovic’s EXPORT’s the re-enactment. ’s re-enactment of EXPORT’s ;’s Abramovic piece re-enactment had of to EXPORT’s be based on a handful of very limited existing remainders of Abramovic ;’s the belief “truth” original in event the is her gun “action and pants.” wearing revealed in her comment to Spector on this conundrum: Abramovic; reveals her desire to recreate the supposed performance that took place in the actual porn theatre “facts”) that the EXPORT, original artist, project was performed now and been documented, exposed as a myth by art historian Mechtild and who Peter interviewed Hassmann, the documents, photographer of Widrich, EXPORT’s discovered that apparently she never actually went to a porn theatre but told this story later as a mode of embellishing the performative forthcoming). images (Widrich a “performance” that never took place as mythically described. Widrich is that never one Widrich “performance” of took a place a imagery as new mythically described. generation of art history and performance studies scholars who are poised to begin to under stand the significance of such gaps reveling and in contradictions, the impossibility of knowing for sure rather than refusalclaiming to Abramovic; to speakfind EXPORT’s to final meanings. simply exposes further the extent to which our understanding and beliefs about past works are always contingent on what information is available to us Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

30 Amelia Jones 22. 21. the constitutes “original”what about event. cept ever-metamorphosingan con- to relate ideas,themselves generating that images,beliefs and an “original”event.durational to connected be not may or may that ways in work the fantasize as to such Abramovic; enactors traces).re- documentary later EXPORT’sand prompts others act by self-mythifying veyed know,can we as far (as time con- the a memories at again from “knowledge”spaces gained itself material in and body physical the with occurred what to contrast) least at (or contradiction works history how to attention story...andon...).so Hassmann’s believing for on (and,knows,later clear who exposed perhaps be will WidrichI or ’s project much more interest- more much makes project mind re-enactment,Abramovic;’s my the to and original AbramovicMarina the and Gallery ; Kelly Sean courtesy Carr; Kathryn New by Museum, York,(Photo Guggenheim 2005. R. Solomon Pieces . FigureAbramovicMarina 7. ; thing authentic from an original event becomes clear.becomes event original an from authentic thing teleology point-to-point memory and history in represented themselves as exist only that origins,origins singular and than rather multiple from always but outward expands that ideas of network a as more understood is lie.temporality a now If as we “know”) as far (as an on “original”based began is that here sequence anyway),the proposition then doubtful a is

EXPORT’s mythification,through EXPORT,work her Speaking Deller, like sharp a shown has in space, codifying the layers of durationality that are otherwise constantly in flux. in constantly otherwise are that durationality of layers the codifying space, in sequences temporal creating by world the of sense make to tendency human the precisely on rumination blowing Bergson’s screen.” the on women of bodies fragmented the watching passively of instead thing’ ‘the confront real to viewers male challenging aisles, the through slowly proceeding house, movie a to them wore and pants of pair a from crotch removedthe Export performance, that “In EXPORT piece: 1969 c. the describe authors the way the by evidenced as EXPORT’s circulates, which in self-mythologizing way the typifies text This 2008). Dawsey and Carrión “actionEXPORT “Hardy”)with Carmen like pants” as (del posing (named artist Eve woman Fowler,fellow artist a by EXPORT piece the photographs of who redo photographic the also See TimeFreeand Consciousness Immediateof the DataAn Will:Essayon unfolds as part of a reiterative ever-expanding network of meaning- Panicever-expandingof Genital reiterative network a of part as unfolds — performing performing VALIEEXPORT’s ’s project of retrieving some- retrieving of of project impossibility Abramovic;’s the then — Archive) making the images mean something discursively but in but discursively something mean images the making 21 If time is sequential (which,Einstein,sequential since is time If 22 Genital Panic/ActionGenital Pants at — This conundrum, this gap between the between conundrum,gap This this a Bergsonian layering rather than a than rather layering Bergsonian a ([1889] [1913] 2005) is a mind- a is 2005) [1913] ([1889] SevenEasy Impossibility of Presence 31 - presence citing As a critic Seven Seven Easy 23 , particularly Seven Easy her , Pieces Pieces was itself a performance, SEP, Guggenheim employees Spector Nancy is ;’s Abramovic crystallized extensive by use of documenta- Seven Seven Easy Pieces thus begins with “[p]erformance, the claim — a place in art history, even and as the she, curators and a - promot place in art history, or, otherwise put, the otherwise problem put, of live art in history and or, in the marketplace — ’s team I’m referring to everyone from the team curators I’m of ’s Seven Seven Easy Pieces notes dryly, “The filming of Seven Easy Pieces notes dryly, The film version of 24

(2006:56). (2006:56). contradictions, I want that contradictions, to make stress, the project more not less important for con-

, Nancy Seven Easy Spector Pieces, and Jennifer Blessing) indicates that the artist is more — fore part of knotted a set layered, of materials all hovering around the idea that some

inal’ precedes the current documentation” (2008:148). Art critic Johanna inal’ Burton, precedes the (2008:148). current documentation” Abramovic;’s careful management of the documentation of and Jennifer Blessing, to her critical supporters (such as the essayists in the catalogue) and the funding body that partly sponsored the show (in the latter the regard, press for the exhibition thus noted: for “Funding Seven I am deliberately evoking Gilles Deleuze’s Bergsonian take on cinema ([1983] 1986 and I [1985] am 1989). deliberately In evoking Gilles Deleuze’s film of seems early to image” cin- me“movement toreside somewhere in between theterms, Mangolte’s Deleuze’s ema andofimage” more the recent “time cinema in that it both insists on the moment-to-moment “photograph” or instant, frozen (the potential is for pressed on a the still viewer photographic at “document” every moment of the film) and activates the temporality of cinema and live art as self-implicating (it isvery clear that one is watching an art film of sorts, the temporality of which is constructed through editingTime and takes camera work). place both in a narrative sense and, ofthrough the editingduration and impliedthroughpoint “depth” of view, in the vignettes representing each re-enactment. ; Abramovic By Several scholars have already noted the bundle of contradictions surrounding The sheer volume of materials Abramovic; produced and by her team (including the - cura original” performance. original” ers of propose the these work, performances as securing the authentic “original” meaning of live works by re-entering them into the domain of temporality through the re-enactment for mat. The paradox here of course mat. is that the re-enactment itself is durational and thus always its meaning and value in history just as contingent and problematic as that “over,” of the already “ central role in arranging the production of the catalogue indicatesand herfilm, clear concern Along with which the includes catalogue, in history“fixing” inwith aits very particular way. some of the extensive still photographs and text documenting the the feature-length project, 2007 film by professional filmmaker Babette Mangolte seems bent on establishing the presence of the project in history through the semi-material durationality of cinema. 23. 24. (of ideas as well as of artworks) Documentation Documentation as Reification? This problem of reification or fetishization of the verykind of art said to be privileged because of its ephemerality tion to secure ing than if we simply buy into and repeat claims for her authenticity and truthfulness as she retrieves earlier works from the past. ‘orig siderations of writing performance histories. As siderations art of historian writing Jessica performance Santone histories. has noted of the “The medium of authorizes the ; Abramovic or documentation produces, uses project, that is there who attended with Babette Mangolte deftly choreographing a fleet of cameras (Burton and2006:56). crew” with the most stunning color Seamlessly camera edited work together, (clearly involving mul- carefully tiple placed cameras, and their movements the carefully highly choreographed), artsy film is a far cry from the grainy black-and-white super 8 footage taken by oftena static, single, movie camera common to most 1970s for performance those documentation, works that were even documented at all (many weren’t). Pieces the museum’s claim in the brochure handed out on the final night of theproject that the art- “[y]et for she all like looks, the a world, acerbically notes, here “is and present, now,” ist picture” tors of aware than most of the impossibility of this very ideal she sets but for at herself, the same time continues to make what I would argue to be untenable claims for the authenticity and of live art. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

32 Amelia Jones thus notes that with each evening of evening each with that notes thus history.art into written be can Fischer-Lichteit Erika retrieved,then author be and Catalogue can meaning true its performance earlier an re-enacting by that claim catalogue the in authors either.”time the at happened exactly what isolate hand,or other the the On and Abramovic; history,that to back looking things; see different really of can’t lot we a to due is formance per in interest of histories: resurgence full “the retrieving of impossibility the well as admitted she interpretation”; my time,is of time,which element is the piece [re-enacted] the to bring I element new that only and “[t]he duration demands performance successful that noted thus me,with she interview performances. her of In retrieval and enactment the in issue key the is itself time herself),that artist and the place, by taking fully even are they “known”while (even be never can performances that experience from hand,knows anyone than more Abramovic; one it.the of On versions reworked own her about knowledge of dissemination the for and inal orig- the about know can she what of retrieval the for both documentation on dependence and in interest her about explicit hand,is other she the on claims; these reiterate catalogue the in performers) original the to copyright through (deferring it of enactment being.of mode authentic notes: only Abramovic; its is liveness the if necessary be would efforts these why of question the work,further the begging of tation documen - the choreographing in role her details explicitly 2007:11).she (Abramovic; Elsewhere truthful,its authentic,in history embodied,this itself” form, in piece live the re-perform to “is piece,”art performance a place document its to ensure way to real that presumably only “the a history,”art grounding”establishing art performance “stable of “in for goal the poses noting score cal contradiction. this highlights medium representational obviously an in made is ity physical- for claim this that fact the duration; survive can presence how of art performance live all to crucial question representations, the supporting begs of array an and film the on dence art.live But,in audience depen- itself,again,the its project to with the body this of proximity the of the “physical” presence and the body and temporality both on insistence her confirming audience,”live a of front in body artist’s the of physicality art,the time-based features guage of “energy” and the authenticity of the live to insist that the project affirms of project “moments the that insist to live the of of guage authenticity “energy”the and adoxically,repeats.claim, this Fischer-Lichtebefore lan- on just own draws And Abramovic;’s are,they them”par while repeated even (2007:42).means originals thus are events Abramovic;’s no past,by the event,but of artistic performances respects,which,original to some referred in question a as performances re-doing audience”).of larger issue a the for poses events Abramovic; the of trace some leave on,(“[l]ater changed.though,performance attitude original our its after Weto need the felt work this promoting in interest any has one if belief this sustaining of impossibility the edging acknowl- yet and members) audience of as well as ence”performer the (2007:9),of presumably experi- real the for substitute a be not could [...] documentation any that believed us of most seventies,early [...] the (“in event live the of authenticity the in belief the noting between forth and back moving by performance about beliefs in work at tension the crystallizes Abramovic; claims to be retrieving the authentic re- the her “original”retrieving in be event to hand claims one Abramovic; the On forthcoming[a]) photograph.Jones each (in take to how on photographer the to instructions gave I And book.the for used taken,we photographs which still numerous had around.also ing I mov- cameras other three had I then and hours seven the over entirety its in piece each filmed that camera movie static a documentation.had good Mangolte,I produce to With produced beautifully and large the to introduction her In Museum MarinaAbramovicprovidedthe generouslyby been ; Pieceshas Easy — I spent a lot of time working with the filmmaker,the with working time of lot Babette a spent I Pieces Easy Seven

2005). 2005). something that anyone who is properly trained can re-play?”can (9) trained properly is who anyone that something — “Can we treat the instructions of the performance like a musi- a like performance the of instructions the treat we “Can Seven Easy Pieces new,Easy Sevencompletely Abramovic; a “created Leadership Committee” (Guggenheim (Guggenheim Committee” Leadership catalogue,Pieces Easy Seven — and several authors several and — but then pro- then but - - Impossibility of Presence 33 and - in The — 25 —

But, as sug- But, 27 or at least do no “original” “original” is no — which promoted Fischer-Lichte Fischer-Lichte — — that this body’s actions can — ([1978] in 1987) Painting and Luc Ferry, Truth or repeating previous gestures reiterating its very “presence” (supposedly) authentic

26 — explicitly repudiates feminism might explain the willingness of curators at both within these terms presenting of the aesthetics, work in the — enactments (as themselves “ephemeral, and then enactments “ephemeral, ceas[ing...] (as to themselves exist” ,” where the artist answers Biesenbach’s question “did you or do question you consider “did yourself a femi- where the artist answers Biesenbach’s ,” Il Corpo Il Come Linguaggio (1974), which includes a (very bad!) English translation. Seven Seven Easy Pieces is reified and at the same time celebrated for its confirmation of the

’s “energetic” body “energetic” Abramovic;’s ity of

’s investment in aesthetics has paid off brilliantly. She has Abramovic;’s been investment in one of aesthetics has the key paid off brilliantly. The Abramovic;’s paradox project of is that she and her team want to situate her work within For a wonderful For and sophisticated exposition on live art see as Lea a mystical transferal of and love energy, classic Vergine’s On this centering tendency of aesthetics, Derrida’s see Jacques Homo Aestheticus: The Invention of TasteAge in ([1990] the1993). Democratic Invention of Aestheticus: TheHomo As an aside, the ; fact that Abramovic MoMA, an institution that has hosted almost no retrospectives of work by women artists and certainly none by feminists, to promote her career See through“Interview: such a Klausshow. Biesenbach in Conversation with ; Marina Abramovic 2008:20). (in not, Stiles never” nist?” with the categorical, “Absolutely Drawing on the premises of a particular kind of live art from the 1970s The belief that the meaning of the body in action can only be known to the spectator heart of the international contemporary art world and constructing around it the accoutre- ments of the typical art museum exhibition to disseminate it through the catalogue and film, and within discourses of live with performance their and art, privileging of durational, the live, ephemeral. The truth two of of frameworks presence the and “energy” live ephemerality engagement). (the as constructed and mobilized are discursively and institutionally incompatible not fit together without a lot of contortions as and well contradictions, as disavowals of what is cultural capital; at on stake in the most such careers an base level, enterprise (most abstractly, and economic security). figures in bringing performance art histories into the institutions fully of and art, with all of the contradictions She this has entails. fully entered the most conservative modernist institu- as the Guggenheim and tions MoMA within exhibitions confirm. the art academy, contradictory frameworks gested, Abramovic;’s work is built on gested, a Her fundamental very contradiction. desire to secure the truth and value of her re- 25. 26. a concept of live performance as a kind of mystical transferal of life force thus seemingly inadvertently raises and another the contradiction, paradox of live art in his- or live art placed in art institutions and discourses tory, rears of its aesthetics, head again. 27. presence [...which] happen when the performer brings forth his body as an energetic body that releases energy and allows it to circulate in the space and to energize spectators so that they sense the performer as well as themselves not only as but intensely as present, embodied minds” (42; emphasis added). original fact opens to the otherness otherness (the of otherness interpreters of and the initial author, spectators from then and and thus now), to the impossibility of its own wholeness and coher ence (and “originality”). of its through its authentic as live performance contradicts enactment, theory the suggests, fact a fact explicitly admitted and Abramovic;’s highlighted project in only be known if they if are they recognizable, are tak- that have salience as While to coded Fischer-Lichte, viewers, from accepted past traditions. for ing an her Abramovic;’s wants “originality” act cue own to that from statements, claim in fact has been repeated from this the very past, repetition reveals the fact that there As suggested briefly above in my act lodged “presence.” somewhere as immutable an authentic, evocation of Kant’s theory of the aesthetic basis judgment, for aesthetics is the drive to cohere the subject in relation to the objects of the world deemed to be art through the sleight of hand securing this subject’s judgments of these objects passed off as universal (and thus reciprocally confirming the subject’s judgments as true). Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

34 Amelia Jones such as Gina Pane’s Gina as such restaged,that Abramovic; works known lesser the for images Google search to were one 2009,if to 2005 around Guggenheim.From the at piece the re-performing of Abramovic; were results search the of page first the on images the of 2007,most to 2005 Hare ,from Dead a to Pictures Beuys’s about information find hare”to of “Beuys artworks) other or live on information for looking of today way common most (the images Google on search a initiated after years two least at that,for fact the by signaled is This be and mean to coming are origins artistic their to returning authentically be to claims ephemerality,and temporality its marketplace. the escapes performance,that through suggest to been discourse,has art which performance mainstream of claim central the reconsider to least,need very dynamic,career).we the this own at Given my essay, this of writing own my in here furthers from which benefiting turn in foreground,am I to me for crucial that,author-functionis (commodities it commodities Marina as Abramovic; of reification histories,the understandable,formance in while results per and art in position a herself secure to forthcoming[a]). desire Jones Her (in on film, so and book,the in representation through them of promotion and construction very her by belied is show) the of run the during Guggenheim the at visitors to moment,only the available after 28. to relation in produced photographs, she professional that film,choreographed book and carefully the Guggenheim,via the and as institution art major a such from out circulate they re- her commodity. a as foremost and what argued,first is have performance course, that I cal of as But tion Re- Itself Neverin/to Can Full Be that Presence the as Reiteration women,by art of show large-scale their of part Pane’s “original”as from relics and of documentation exhibited Paris in Center Pompidou the that fact the of spite in (this 2005 in piece the redoing of Abramovic; are Conditioning”) (“Pane search a such with appear that images the of today,2010,most even of September in up; come would general in work Pane’s of even or performance original the of image single a art through these very re- very these through art performance in meaning historical of question the reopen to capacity her in now resides largely fame Marina (whose artist Abramovic; famous internationally more much the by re-enactment past also photographs, now the the in texts, documenting reside film actually and work Pane’s of computer-literateour society,in past the about engine,search suggests,Google the does “truth” Or,learning Pompidou? for the resource by common photographs most of our grid as a in event this of remain that photographs and relics the In event? original the attended who those of ries memo- the In herself? Pane of body long-dead now the in reside it Does Conditioning? The Pane’s the began: as is we such “truth”Where which works with of questions the to inquiry already gone.already is re-enactment authentic new) piece.“meaning”a the even suggests,for (or conundrum original the this the As secure way some in to re-enactment through attempt the by precisely fore the to brought is that has become the new author-name through which all of the performances she performances the of all which author-namethrough new the become has Abramovic; Pompidou. the The the by is owned and bed, Pane documents metal of “relic” the form of the “piece,” in nowexists it as such our of circle the around reiterative,us itself returning is raised questions of set This This entire discussion points to a difficult and recalcitrant problem with live art, one live and with problem recalcitrant and difficult a to points discussion entire This enactments, like the live in general, might seem to promise an escape from commodifica- from escape an promise to general,seem in might live enactments, the like — — enactments (and thus by extension the extension “originals,”by thus (and enactments become,as her) particularly through does not by all appearances aim primarily to promote the histori- the promote to primarily aim appearances all by not certainly does Abramovic; the metal “bed” on which Pane laid over the lit candles; the series of images displayed images of series the candles; lit the over metal laid the Pane “bed”which on the “event itself” and, even more strikingly,and,more even always and the itself” durational not “event itself is (under the search terms “Gina Pane Conditioning”) Pane terms “Gina search the (under Conditioning The enactments)? in 2009). in elles@centrepompidou

took place, if one place,if took Pieces Easy Seven and the and Pieces Easy Seven 28 How to Explain to How valued. Seven — not - Impossibility of Presence 35 Seven Seven The Artist is The enactments of as (ScreenPane. grab by She told me in our 2007 interview: 29 she hoped to re-enact, refused her Trans-Fixed , along Seven Easy with Pieces, and the permission to re-perform the piece in the — asked him if she could re-enact the work he said to her: “‘You don’t

” as (arguably) have ;” a become the most visible vehicles in the “Abramovic production of

She She also noted in my interview with her that whose Chris Burden, permission and hence his piece is not one of the works referenced (in forthcoming[a]).Jones hasBurden a slightly different memory of the situation, emphasizing the impossibility ofretrieving the past in any final way; he stated to me in an interview ; that when Abramovic [legally or morally] need needmy topermission; ask meyou canand doyou don’t whatever you want, but now that you are sayingasking no me becauseI’m its absolutely meaningless for you to do that performance or it has no meaning.’ me, [For by redoing the work] becomesIt a parody and I think stupid” (Burden 2010:18). Abramovic; herself has been very clear on how her work is to be bought indicat- and sold, Figure 8. A 2009 Google Images search of “Pane Conditioning” yields no images of the original (Gina Pane’s yields Conditioning” no 8. images A search of of Figure 2009 Images “Pane the Google original (Gina Pane’s The; Conditioning, 1973); most of are the 2005 with re-enactment, Abramovic Amelia Jones) “With my lawyer “With I made a statement that I would only make photographs of my own work and never of so anyone that else’s, I wouldn’t benefit financially if the original ideas were not mine. [I am] absolutely not And [selling the photographs of myself performing other artists’ works].” in the yet, May 2006 interview printed in she the tells catalogue, Spector that her work can be purchased by museums such as “the the museum Guggenheim: [...] can buy the documentation, and objects photographs, including video, with precise future, instructions made in must by their supply the [A]rtists, lifetimes, artists [...]. extremely strict instructions [to (2007:25). this end]” 29. marketing term, a marketing brand term, name. ing her awareness of the market and the importance of positioning her work in a specific way Abramovic; has in explicitly relation within noted, to its the structures. re- Present, Present, that Easy she Pieces, gained permission from each artist and paid copyright fees where necessary in order to obtain the proper right to re-do the work. . In fact, as In I Easy fact, have due Pieces. suggested to here, the very visibility it has gained through - pub lic relations and its various forms of documentation, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

36 Amelia Jones 31. 30. performance as attached to particular author-names.particular to attached as performance and art of works to ascribed value legal and economic the sense),about Foucauldian but the author-functionsparticular (in of practices, even performance or particular of value cultural per the works in works the per spectacle presented in presented spectacle the in echoed unfortunately perhaps 1980s...and and 1970s the in Baudrillard Jean of work the Debord’s Guy from theory postmodern Marxian much in rized theo- as spectacle capitalist the of qualities mind-numbing horrifying the to leads it that table inevi- not is marketplace,it the perhaps to inexorably lead to seems also time over place takes passivity,breeds performative,that be active?”sense some (2005:5).in they can or spectacle a of part just representations such image? are an And become to re-enactment the of mances,re- ies,books, discourse,magazines,history etc.).art perfor asks: other Lütticken “Like Sven As that,fact,capital the in of galler made structures (art “original” same historically very available the into channeled up ends itself so and time later a at it of re-doing the in temporality its ates attenu- commodified,form, re-enactment becoming pure the never some in exists act original a marketable trope attached to Sehgal as author-name.as Sehgal to attached trope marketable a become has itself out,refusal pointed this have critics yet,some and as form; textual or graphic different by “actors”times different,of gallery,in usually photo- in documented officially sites) number any re-done is which of (each events performative his of any have to refusing record on of work Tinothe artist”about an Sehgal,made (forthcoming).is been who has point similar A as career his enhance to necessary capital symbolic the accrue to able as is writes,he Alÿs that a audience,’before ‘global event-as-image the of circulation practice,the Alÿs’s in precisely is “it of noted has well.Kester as Grant evident historian are art stance As this of contradictions tion tradi- oral to story our of care events,the live leave such now of shall aftermath “[w]e the in Lima,[near Peru].”position original that its note from to description this after continues Alÿs inches four about dune sand long foot sixteen-hundred a move] [...to line single a form to asked and shovels Faith with supplied were volunteers that hundred (2002) “five Mountains Moves piece epic his works,of live writing staging in marketplace the of role the and history of arts.visual the of institutions and discourses the to relation in articulated project performance any underlie that reiteration and repetition of structures related the and capital of structures the negotiate to begun and recognized have 1966) in (born Deller way some culture),“alive”in Jeremy British strike as younger-generationin miners’ such artists 1984 the as such history British in events key keeping of goal the (including goals political sive

’s project thus raises crucial questions not just about the abstract aesthetic or aesthetic abstract the about just not questions crucial raises thus project Abramovic;’s ties of the global art market, her current research project. project. research current her market, art global the of ties before Abramovicon work ; my discussed I and sister) (my Caroline that note should I closure, Abramovicof sion ; Sehgal’sand Jones’sCaroline see practices, “StagedPresence” Lambert-Beatty’s Carrie also see (2010); discus- Abramovicbetween comparison ; critical a for And (2010). liveness of vicissitudes the activating kind), any of receipts or documents, scores, (without pieces similar of repetition through as, work his of analysis forgiving more Sehgal’sof review Bem’scritical Caroline intelligent Seealso Forand (2010). caustic MiraSchor a see practice 124–27). esp. see (1977: author this to attributed expressions and discourses of constellation a to relation in coherence secure to function names author which in way the describe to (1969) Author?” Isan “What in author-function the of notion the Foucaultelaborates one re-enacted deliberately an a the Whether or per “original”Alÿs event choreographed While the inevitability of repetition in the securing of a historical a that “presence”of art securing for the in repetition of inevitability the While Belgian artist Francis Alÿs (born in 1959) has also shown a strong consciousness of issues of consciousness strong a shown also has 1959) in Francis (born artist Alÿs Belgian progres- to damaging necessarily as commodification any of notion simplistic the Resisting [...]. Only in its repetition and transmission is the work actualized”work (2002:108–9).the the is But transmission and repetition its [...].in Only - particulari the to attention her innovatesin essay her scene; the onto forth is burst PresentThe Artist had enactments generate representations in the form of photos and videos. Is it the fate the videos.it and Is photos of form the in representations generate enactments , it is precisely this contradictory accrual of capital”accrual “symbolic contradictory this precisely Pieces,is Easy Sevenit ’s“Againstissue, same the in MoMAdis- piece full Performanceof interest Inthe (2010). Art” The Present. is Artist 30 Far from romantically ensuring that the that ensuring romantically from Far 31 in 1967 to 1967 in Spectacle the of Society ’s practice early in 2010 2010 ’s in early practice When ’s - - Impossibility of Presence 37 - Marina Marina , Hans Marina much could be

’s name took ’s —

conducting “The Drill” at ; and Abramovic the “Concept by” , Tomorrow HamsToday the of are ThePigs of ; Presents took place Abramovic Marina event. enactments enactments can and do participate in the . Whitworth. ArtJuly 2009.Presents Gallery, (Photo by Institute for Preservation of Performance Art and of Institute for the Performance Preservation , the event was by followed the publication of a book, ; 9. Marina Abramovic Figure ; Abramovic Chester-Fildes) Joel that I could thus leave if I must. This secret information did not alle- — - - The program included a workshop Abramovic; run herself by for the first 33 ; Abramovic Marina I did attend 32 ; Abramovic however, (2010). , Orrell Art of Interestingly, edited Performance and by Paula the Future ;

Ulrich Obrist, and Maria Balshaw, the latter being the director of Ulrich Obrist, Whitworththe and Maria Balshaw, (Whitworth Art Gallery 2009a). is It worth noting here that a fourth major ; re-enactment event dominated by Abramovic place in January 2010 at UK. the Entitled Plymouth Arts Center, the event was organized ; with the Marina Abramovic Re-enactmentPerformance Society (PRS; a UK-based collective). In the PRS portion of the event participants were invited to in “focus on a particular moment or image from a memorable and performance,” bring an object to it recreate at series the of event, newin performancefor order works “a to pho- be through produced” “original (Plymouth Artsto another Center tographs” conflation2009). betweenPointing an event supposedly about performance histories and ; the author-name Abramovic of the artist said ; about at such an virtualAbramovic “presence” I complained about this to my colleagues at theWhitworth who kindly toldthat me,they were confidentially, legally not required to lock people in viate my sense of being strong-armed into experiencing a in durational“full” event whether I wanted to stay or The WhitworthThe website notes that the event was; curatedbyAbramovic c Abramovi herself ended up missing the actual event and apparently appeared only via video conferencing Is there any way out of this circuit through which the live gets turned into capital? I have The marketing dynamic sur

; Presents and Abramovic Marina also witnessed the public relations machinations leading up to and following as the I event, lived in Manchester at the time and worked at the University (though I played no role in the planning of the event). over 16 evenings at the gallery. Each who evening were visitors, told over in 16 advance evenings in at no the uncertain gallery. terms that they had to stay for the duration entire of were four-hour the given evening, white lab coats on entry. 33. 32. by the artist through the live event (the assigning of value - suppos to as that ephemeral, which, edly cannot be commodified) As that Kester Alÿs’s I argues magnifi- have of discussed above. cent and hyperbolic and performative as events, one might argue about ; Abramovic Sehgal and large-scale as public well, performance events and re- marketplace. They are at the center marketplace. of what business theorist Jonathan Schroeder has called the and role “as actively promoting of brand engaged nurturing, artists managers, in developing, themselves ‘products’ as in recognizable the competitive (2005:1292). cultural sphere” suggested that in Deller’s its project, self-reflexive acknowledgment of the art world as a mar rounding Abramovic;’s career rounding was highly evident in the adver Presents at the University of Art Whitworth Manchester’s Gallery in Manchester 3–19 produced July as 2009, part of the Manchester International Festival and curated by Abramovic;. ketplace, at least ketplace, proposes possible ways of navigating these structures without fully succumb- ing to the political evacuations of the which full-blown reifiesspectacle, the “artwork” live as (whether in A the final Abramovic;’s MoMA commentrecent atrium on work or will elsewhere). clarify how I see her project sitting in this larger picture. tising and staging of the third Abramovic; project key of the last five years, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

38 Amelia Jones Marina AbramovicMarina ; the and Gallery Kelly Sean courtesy Anelli; Marco by (Photo Gallery, Presents2009. JulyArt , Whitworth for advertising Imageon used hour,entitled alarmingly rather 36. 35. 34. for 1976 Amsterdam,in address. to former the Yugoslavia,in conditions about more know who Jakovljevic which left Abramovic; Branislav as such scholars for aside point this regime.leave communist I a in up growing ence FigureAbramovicMarina 10. ; minutes five for eyes others’ each into members audience among and between terms,exchanges energy Drill Pavlov-Andreevich,Suryodarmo,Melati Nico Vascellari.(including pieces 14 the of Each Hwang,Isenstein,Eunhye Jamie TerenceKoh, MacLennan,O’Reilly,Alastair Kira Fedor Chopra,Civic,Nikhail Ivan ists: Balducci, Fabio Coogan,Cool Amanda Marie YingmeiDuan, 13 by Gallery the of parts various in performances site-specific of series a within) cases some in (and around navigate to hours subsequent three the for free set Drill,were visitors

cultural histories. cultural Abramovic of significance ; and position the of specifics the on thoughts his and knowledge this of some shared he 2010 of summer Jakovljevic overthe with correspondence personal In artist. the on books of shelves as well Abramovicdoubled artist’sthis reiterating; the postcard images of of sense arrays vast including by ubiquity this expanded which bookshop July a 2009. 12 today, has Typicalon museums and Whitworth the galleries of Abramovic; artist’sthe MoMAof the staging “presence” (2010). Abramovicnoted has ; MichaelBenson (2010). value explanatory has link this that confirms US, the in working now scholar studies performance Serbian a in up Tito’s high positions had who Yugoslavia,in parents youth Jakovljevic, with her Branislav government; and between links possibly are There curtain. iron the of era the in purveyed have to ernment this of feeling The seen. have I that items) collection permanent all of cleared completely was Whitworth (the setting gallery specific a into interventions ing inspir- most the among and powerful were performances the of some though coercive, felt event entire The not. ) was “reiterated” each night across the run of the show.the of run was the ) across “reiterated”night each ’s comments were made with self-deprecating humor at the “Real’sthe at humor self-deprecatingTime/Real with weremade comments Documents” symposium

Archive) for me was of a parody of the kind of brainwashing Americans imagine the Sovietthe govimagine - Americans brainwashing of kind the of parody a of was me for Drill MarinaAbramovic ; , , 2008. 2008. ME, & ME , which relied heavily on setting up,setting in on heavily Drill,Abramovic;’s relied The which 36 But clearly the dominant 20th-century Euro-US model Euro-US 20th-century dominant the clearly But — ’s practice as expressing “the last gasp of of “the ’s gasp Titoism,”expressing last as to referencepractice in and between herself and her and herself between and tory,documentation his- about views particular Abramovic;’s between connection strong potentially a to marketplace ument everything.”ument background,doc- communist we from am “I former the Yugoslavia:in up growing ground back- own her to linked is history and tion documenta- with obsession her that point poignant quite the made also she ference figure”).marketing good con- a this am At panelist),a as participate did “I I which (for event the for organized conference the ing dur ruefully it (as put performers Abramovic; “mini-me,”other the of names the without of kind a of holding portrait Abramovic; ous glamor a the featured at Whitworth!) toilets women’s the in even versions smaller with Manchester,of city the over all posters and billboards large notably most included (which exhibition the for relations public work,the the on publications detailed more While the artists were fully credited in credited fully were artists the While ’s Yugoslavianin later, work and, Serbian — — as informed by her experi- her by informed as having us,example,having for stare 35 audience. — This comment points comment This and surely about the about surely and Abramovic; 34 After additional art- additional ’smethod The The , as as , - - Impossibility of Presence 39 Marina - ; Marina Abramovic (organized Time by a Real project Time and the entire Real dis- . Whitworth. ArtAugust-SeptemberPresents Gallery, 2009. Real Time/Real , Documents follow-up installation to Time/Real Real , andAdrian Heathfield, co-organizers of ; Presents event points to the Abramovic cru- Marina in the Time embarrassing Real form of appearing on an additional The labeling of this exhibition of documentary - evi 37 Figure 11. Figure ; Abramovic Richards) Tony by (Photograph [...] have been (Whitworthvideo in recorded real time” 2009b). The- prob the “real time” elementan time” illusionthe israther, “real fakedof immediacy(or, and the

—

Presents Presents The Drill clearly dominated the exhibition space. The project only that other artist’s ’s , Time Real was “re-enacted” in the “re-enacted” gallery ; through Presents was a series of Abramovic large Marina ; Marina Abramovic Real Time/Real . Documents Time/Real Real Hans Ulrich Obrist and Maria Balshaw, on 17 July 2009. Watching Hans myself Ulrich stagedon Obrist 17 2009.andin Watching July theMaria Balshaw, same space as

show was advertised as Time follows: “The works performed Real as part of the epic exhibition of perfor- 38 It should It be noted that I played a role in

Real Time/Real Documents was installedTime/Real in the Real galleries at theWhitworth from 1 August to 6 September 2009. The; footage ofAbramovic Presents, Presents, the beautifully edited and crafted footage of the performances was not a nice feeling, but did remind me of the utterances, whichelusiveness are ofalways one’s startling to hear (apparentlyown “mouth,” coming out of one’s even worse) at even a slight temporal remove. Real Time/Real Documents Time/Real Real Most interestingly for my a arguments few here, weeks after the July 2009 event at the mance art, video monitor in the same exhibition space; the monitor was showing a tape of the conference in which I partic - ipated during the run of the ; event, with Abramovic was projected in digital video on an equal scale was that of Nikhil Chopra; the rest of the projects were displayed on modestly sized monitors on the gallery walls. The lem with this conceit is that it masks the fact that the videos played in the show are fully edited from footage made by more than one camera flow of time is produced through editing and as camera displayed“real What, time” on placement). after all, is videotape? crystallizes the importance of re-enacting and documenting but past also works, the paradox of doing so while still relying on discourses of authenticity the and perhaps most worryingly, Finally, and presence. course and public relations surrounding the cial political stakes in the re-staging of Even performance in events. 37. Whitworth, Whitworth, and in the called video ;’s Abramovic largest projections installed format), (with at the center, (ironically) of avantgardism, which of requires avantgardism, a skeptical or critical view towards the market and/or high art institutions epitomized is by not MoMA, very helpful in Abramovic ; understanding is what or where doing, she seems to be in coming her from, recent practice. dence as assertively “real” while also, simultaneously, noting the perfor status “real of time” the simultaneously, while also, dence “real” as assertively mances as now being reiterated surfaces “documents,” as fixed some of the contradictions involved in staging and restaging such In a this project. way the organizers of curator Mary Griffiths and gallery director Maria Balshaw, who are colleagues of mine and were thus forced at various points to engage with my cranky at least interrogations, ironi- cized the show’s foreground- Abramovic; ing and of her claims by for insisting presence, that the re-enactive documents and the video footage themselves be labeled oxymoronically as “real.” 38. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

40 Amelia Jones major performance major to of Abramovic;’s film large-scale “presence”the via subordinated is projects performance other 13 the of documentation the of all interventions!) exclusion of issues of conscious highly curator Presents. Gallery,Art Whitworth InternationalFestival,Manchester (Photograph2009. Marco byAnelli) Kiraof DocumentationO’Reilly, page) Figure(facing 12. 39. critique forceful but respectful a forming of stakes the managers”ists above) brand (noted “as tographs,films. and catalogues,as pho- such apparatuses representational for performed and conceived are and tions institu- art sanctioned fully and large in place take themselves importance,which own and their proclaiming campaigns relations public large-scale by not,driven) (if largely accompanied are is,re- course,viewers in of in lost unease of feeling productive a public.provoke general to the potential of such members All unsuspecting public) in done pieces of case the (in or visitors gallery destabilized pressured,otherwise or surprised,they confused,which in ways various the from came initially redoes she works the of of others.by restaging and Abramovic; and Abramovic; staging continual power the The through mitigated is re-enacts she works Arguably,the of best the of durationality and spontaneity the up,end ironically,others) and herself (by practice her for claims tious experienced.historically instantaneously) and (inevitably as or the in liveness “moment”either its functions of actually performance how of understanding our to nothing absolutely such,adds as it genius: as artist creating the for transcendence of kind a aesthetics,modernist claiming from language outdated on work),uncritically Abramovic;’s draws about writing of case the in effects.typical art’s (sadly live hyperbole of reviewer’s ing The as such best,Abramovic;’s,their provoke at practices performance complex resistances and of, messiness fact, face very in the the in flies hyperbole such overall reveals comment reviewers’ performance,the historicizing as in 2010). Russeth viewers” and her (Goldstein of benefit the for intact performer,emerges daredevil and the death of risks that who as one artist the performance the of role beatings, the endure defined violence,starvation,has psychological [Abramovic;...] and history, its for responsible to figure claims: herself key thus “Forcing the review breathless one 2010). Anderson art”mainstream (in in and performance Abramovic; understand really can me after people other historical the almost have I that New Yorkefforts,feel noted: re-enactment really recently recent “I thus her has and Abramovic; upstate in Center Marina Performance the Abramovic; of founding ambitious her on Expanding museum” the into performance the put “to Histories: Reclaiming evening each show the of duration dramatic hour a three Victoriandown the the slowly over at excruciatingly Whitworth staircase staircase,”the body control,naked muscular “fell”her and restraint which,incredible in with nately no catalogue documenting the exhibition). the documenting catalogue no nately than other projects individual the on internet the on mation

Returning explicitly to Jonathan Schroeder’s identification of a shift towards the role of art- of role the towards shift a of identification Schroeder’s Jonathan to explicitly Returning is,as practice art ambi- Abramovic;’s performance of history the to important undeniably As role key a play to desire heartfelt appreciate seemingly certainly Abramovic;’s can one While (2010); and Jamesand (2010); Westcott,“Artist MarinaAbramovic ; Past”“Present and Russeth, Andrew and Goldstein Andrew see press, hagiographic the of Forexamples more 39 Reinforcing this idea of as idea art,Abramovic; this performance “the”Reinforcing and of genius artists — such as Kira O’Reilly’s magnificent twist on the descending on “nude twist magnificent O’Reilly’s Kira as such

function to put the performance into the museum and then and museum the into performance the put to function — are largely lost to history (it is difficult even to find infor find to even difficult is (it history to lost largely are — enactments such as those of those as such enactments weakens rather than strengthens our understand- our strengthens than rather weakens — : ‘I have to be Like a Mountain’”a (2010). Like be to have ‘I : not the least because of my constant prickly constant my of because least the not StairFalling Part2009. , of . Highly memorable pieces by pieces Drill.memorable The Highly , and there is unfortu- is Drill,there The and her work in time.in work her freezing Seven Easy Pieces,Easy Sevenwhich MarinaAbramovic ; — which -

Impossibility of Presence 41 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

42 Amelia Jones never be grasped, and yet all experience is mediated,is representational.experience all grasped,yet be and never body event, act, an performance, an of a a meaning or true the confirm to order in to refer can we later. retrieved subjectively and place) first the singular,(in no is There authentic “original” act born were we before occurred that those as well as in experience).past to it relating All without us “events” around world the of sense make or apprehend not could (we experience previous and memory on based itself called called “art”acts “performance,”or perception,subjective through available ever only is things of apprehension the recognized) Kant experience,(as present including all that us remind present.over) Crucially,already ics, (always the documents,into remainders) re- ketplace, which itself makes and informs them? and know “histories”makes ketplace,we itself as which mar the of circuits the on depend even and include artistic inevitably of “presence”) guarantor hallowed refreshed that continually “present”does “present”? a how into (the And them bring to order in events as well as objects of meaning the re-fix and fix others,continually exclude and present,the into things certain write historians do why and How ways? what in and history into written whole? get a Which as culture the in about written and talked get performances What re- for rage current the at looking by exchange.raised energy are and questions presence following of The language mystifying on back fall to century) 21st the of age postmodern supposedly the (in continue we ten,why and politically.writ- important get histories how of questions broader to points interrogation This extremely are that art performance to relation in history of questions capitalism,of late but in marketplace the to tied are expressions cultural all closely how only not us engaged,remind can way.non-ironic teleology long modernism’s in thing latest the as performance market to desire celebrity and genius both as participation) her with constructing (certainly force Abramovic; full in project relations public a debuted 2010).story (Louie this that fact The loft her of doorway kitchen chic the in mini-dress black a in coyly posing herself Abramovic; displays spaces) modernist impeccable of images of photographic array show”usual “slide (the New upstate York).in home country a and Manhattan in loft large (a the of picture final The spaces living high-end two her about and story Abramovic; lifestyle a Garden”featured section opened,retrospective the MoMA the before just arguments: my on. going is what in contradiction blatant this ignore or over gloss to artist, tendency here), the a as of and figure the notion of performance as delivering as performance of notion a on draw to media popular broader and world art the of essay this in noted tendency the of a figure, as contested) but (if on important herself,commentary an Abramovic; a clearly view,are,my events in performance past of history true the clear delivering of capable genius artistic the of lines the of along construction Abramovic; monolithic increasingly this of History and even memory are themselves are memory even and History re-enactment,shown,critically performative has when the hope I analysis Still,this as clear,support pretty further be will should example critique last this one of but stakes The history, is a creative act” (2007:31). act” history,creative a is re- artistic to relation in experiments memory false on reflecting Culture,” Contemporary in Reenactment Feeling: More...With “Once in it puts Blackson Robert as And, 1995). Dray also see (1956:215; mind” own his in them re-thinking by done: be can it which in way one only is There [...] discover? to trying is he which thoughts the discern historian the does “How subjects: his with historian the of identification performative the through known be only can history Collingwood, For re-enactment. always is itself history that ago years 50 argued famously Collingwood R.G. Historian — presented in the art realm or otherwise.or realm art the Wein presented the in “now,”already always are can which — and thus as manager,”thus “brand and museum’s the serves turn in who precisely by freezing it as a commodity (often via (often commodity a as it freezing by precisely presence enactments, and the work of work enactments,Abramovic;,the critically: and more re- the opening of the retrospective indicates retrospective the of opening the before , scriptings of the past (based on rel- on (based past the enactments,of scriptings — can only ever be subjectively enacted subjectively be ever only can New York Times and “Home enactments, “memory,enactments, like

— those we participated we those — enactments in a decidedly a in — critique not as not - Impossibility of Presence 43 and — Artforum 1 Seachange New Langton Arts New Langton enactments enactments acti- 24 May. http:// 24 May. New York: Routledge. York: New A Companion to Contemporary A Companion to Contemporary When Faith Moves Mountains.” When Faith , 1 March. www.artinfo.com/news/ 1 March. Artinfo, 24 (May):78–79. Yorker New ed. Nancy Spector, 9–11. Milan: Edizioni 9–11. Nancy Spector, ed. , tr. Alan Bass, 309–30. Chicago: 309–30. Alan Bass, tr. Margins , of Philosophy Turbulence/Networked Performance, Performance, Turbulence/Networked 44, 5 Artforum (44, http://artforum.com/inprint/ January). Seven Easy Pieces, Seven Easy Pieces, www.jeremydeller.org/ (16 September 2010). www.jeremydeller.org/ Liveness: Performance in a Liveness: Performance Mediatized Culture. . Trans. Geoff Bennington. Chicago: Geoff University Bennington. of Chicago Trans. . in Painting Truth . Trans. An Essay on Trans. the Immediate Data Will: of Consciousness. and Time Free . Trans. Hugh Tomlinson and Barbara Tomlinson Hugh Trans. . The Movement Image Cinema 1: The Idea Oxford: of Oxford History. University Press. , ed. Amelia Jones, 482–91. London: Routledge. 482–91. Amelia Jones, ed. Culture Reader, Visual and Feminism . Trans. David B. David B. Trans. and Speech TheoryPhenomena and of Other Signs. Essays on Husserl’s JeremyDeller.org. JeremyDeller.org. . Cambridge: Harvard . University Press. Words With Things How to Do

Pogson. London: George Allen and Co. Allen Facsimile Adamant 2005. London: and reprinted Media George Co. by Corporation, Pogson.

40, 10 (Summer):108–9. 40, (15 October). www.seachangejournal.ca/ (Spring). turbulence.org/blog/2010/05/29/the-artist-is-present-marina-abramovic-online/ (11 September). 1 (Spring):31. 66, 18 February. archive, (13 October id=10058. 2010). In Theory.” Feminist (blog) http://langtonblog.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/feminist-art-in-the-expanded-field/ (15 November 2009). F.L. Evanston: Northwestern Allison. University Press. Press. , ed. Amelia Jones. Oxford: Amelia Blackwell Jones. Press. Art ed. Since 1945, Minneapolis: University Habberjam. of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. University of Chicago. While often posed as confirming the truth of paradoxically the re- past, Charta. story/33902/wise-women/ (22 March). vate the now as always already over, the vate present the always now already as turning always into already the over, future the best we can do might both be continually at escaping least Politically, human knowledge. to acknowledge this paradox self-reflexively rather than covering it over by clinging to an out- modernist notion dated, of presence that relies on a mystified notion of artistic intentionality and that ultimately relies on and reinforces the circuits of capital. Cummings, Neil, and Marysia Lewandowska. 2006. “A Shadow of Marx.” In Shadow of Marx.” “A and 2006. Marysia Neil, Lewandowska. Cummings, Auslander, Phillip. [1999] 2008. [1999] 2008. Phillip. Auslander, 1967. J.L. Austin, Sehgal’s “Sharing Guggenheim Interiority: Tino Solo Notes Show.” on 2010. Caroline. Bem, Artist is “The Present.” 2010. Michael. Benson, [1889] 1913. Henri. Bergson, Angeles Contemporary Los Exhibitions of phone interview with author. Transcript 2010. Chris. Burden, “Repeat Performance.” 2006. Johanna. Burton, Acts and An “Performative Gender Essay Constitution: in Phenomenology and [1988] 2010. Judith. Butler, 1956. R.G. Collingwood, Art Journal Feeling: “Once Reenactment More...With in Contemporary Culture.” 2007. Robert. Blackson, del Carmen Carrión, María, and Jill Dawsey. 2008. “Feminist Art in the Expanded Field.” Art in “Feminist the Expanded Field.” 2008. and Jill del María, Dawsey. Carmen Carrión, [1978] 1987. Jacques. Derrida, In “Signature Event Context.” 1982. Jacques. Derrida, Deleuze, Gilles. [1983] 1986. [1983] 1986. Gilles. Deleuze, and Robert Galeta. Tomlinson Hugh Trans. . Image Time The [1985] 1989. Gilles. Cinema 2: Deleuze, n.d. Jeremy. Deller, 1973. Jacques. Derrida, References In “Reenactment.” 2007. Marina. Abramovic;, , Marina, and Laurie Anderson. 2010. “Wise Women.” Women.” “Wise 2010. Anderson. and Laurie Marina, Abramovic;, “Think Pieces: Return of the 2010. Judsonites.” Joan. Acocella, Alÿs talks Francis about Words: Thousand “A 2002. Francis. Alÿs, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28September 2021

44 Amelia Jones Fischer-Lichte,Erika. 2007. “Performance Art Finkel,Jori. 2008. “Happenings Happening Are Again.” Ferry,Luc.1993. [1990] Elwes,Catherine. 1985. Performance by at Femininity: Art Look “Floating Women.”A In Dray, William.1995. Jones, Amelia. 1997. “‘Presence’ Jakovljevic,Branislav. author.with 2010.correspondence Personal Museum.Guggenheim 2005. Goldstein, Andrew,and Russeth. Andrew 2010. Past.” and “Present Gimblett,Max. 2005. Pieces.” Easy “Nine Giles,Howard. 2009. “ARe-enactment.”of History Brief Foucault,Michel. 1977. Sternad,Flores Jennifer. 2006.Performance Robert Chicano with Art: Early Interview and An “Cyclona Lütticken,Sven. 2005. “Introduction.”In Louie,Elaine. 2010. “The Life.”Marina Dramatic Artist Abramovic;’s Lambert-Beatty,Carrie. 2010. “AgainstPerformance Art.” Kester,Grant. Forthcoming. Kelly,Sean.author. with 2010.conversation Personal MoMA, New YorkCity, May.1 Kant,Immanuel.1986. [1790] Jones,Caroline. 2010. Presence.”“Staged Jones, Amelia.Forthcoming(b). “Timeline.”In Jones, Amelia.Forthcoming(a). “The as Marina Artist with Archaeologist: Abramovic;.”Interview An In Jones, Amelia.2009. “Performance: Time,Cultural and ‘Value’.”Space In Jones, Amelia.2008. “Live in History: Art Paradox?”Art A In Jones, Amelia.2006. Fetish.” Commodity Contemporary as “The Artist In .nytimes.com/2008/04/13/arts/design/13fink.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2 (8 October 2010). October (8 .nytimes.com/2008/04/13/arts/design/13fink.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2 de Moreau,Men,Jacqueline 164–93.and eds. Kent London: Sarah WritersPublishing. Readers and Press. Sven Lütticken.Sven Rotterdam: Wittede With. 2010). September (16 press-release-archive/2005/613-august-1-marina-abramovi-seven-easy-pieces March). (10 story/34097/present-and-past/ 2010). September (20 gimblett_001.html 2009). March (6 re-enactment.htm Press. University Cornell Ithaca: Legorreta.” Charta. Edizioni Pieces Easy section, 3 March www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/garden/04location.htmlsection,March 3 March). (4 Press.University and Jones.Heathfield Routledge. Amelia London: Perform,Repeat, LiveRecord: ,History in eds.Art and Jones.Heathfield Routledge. Amelia Adrian London: Doherty,Claire and Cross 31–37.Kerber Berlin: Verlag. ed. TracyC.Press. University Davis.Cambridge Cambridge: 132–50.Birmingham: Press. Article Politicsthe and of Post-Materiala Art.in Materiality Paradigm ,and eds.Rogers Aaron Henry Williamson, (Winter):11–18.4 Loaiza. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chicago of Loaiza.University Chicago: by Nancy Spector,Nancy by Fischer-Lichte,Erika Umathum,Marina Sandra and Abramovic;. Milan: 12,GLQ 3:482. Oxford: Oxford University Oxford Oxford: History.R.G. of Re-Enactment: Idea Collingwood’sas History Language,Counter-Memory, Practice . Trans.F.Donald Simon.Sherry and Bouchard Homo Aestheticus: of Invention The TasteDemocraticthe in Age. Trans.Robert The One and the Many:the and One ContemporaryThe in Agency Collaborative Duke Durham: Art. Guggenheim.org.www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/ Critique of Judgmentof .Critique Trans. WernerS. Pluhar. Hackett.Indianapolis: : Experiencing Performance as Documentation.”as Performance Experiencing absentia: in Life,FormsMore:Contemporary Once in Re-enactment of Art,ed. 48,(May):214–19, Artforum 9 274. New Zealand New Monthly,Art — Perform,Repeat, LiveRecord: ,History in eds.Art Adrian Experiencing Liminality.”Experiencing In New York Times, Event Plan.co.uk.Event www.eventplan.co.uk/history_of_ 48,(May):208–12. Artforum 9 The Cambridge Guide to Performanceto Studies, Guide Cambridge The www.artinfo.com/news/Artinfo.com. December. New York Times,Garden” and “Home Art and Design,and 13 Art April.www eds.Sculpture,Day One David Art Becomes Art You!Parody, Pastiche Marina AbramovicSeven ;: www.nzartmonthly.co.nz/ Women’sImagesof Art JournalArt 56, Impossibility of Presence 45 London: www.whitworth ;: Abramovic Marina www.whitworth Milan: Giampaolo Prearo . www.atisma.com/spiritart/ Atisma.com. Whitworth.manchester.ac.uk. Whitworth.manchester.ac.uk. 39, 11/12:1292. 11/12:1292. 39, European of Journal Marketing , Tomorrow Are the Hams of Today The Pigs of 54, 2 TDR (Summer):7–11. 54, Art Meets Science and Spirituality in a Changing Economy. Seven Seven Easy Pieces: Critical Documentation Strategies for , eds. Adrian Amelia Heathfield and eds. , Record Repeat, Perform, 41, 2:148. 41, Performing Remains in Visual Culture: Essays on Re-enactment. Culture: Essays on Re-enactment. Visual Remains in Performing , 3 March. www.caareviews.org/reviews/1414 (16 September). (16 September). www.caareviews.org/reviews/1414 3 March. , caa.reviews . London: Phaidon. ;. Abramovic Marina ; Presents. Abramovic Marina Leonardo Leonardo Il Corpo Come Linguaggio (La “Body - art” e “Body - Il storie art” Corpo simil). Come Linguaggio (La . Durham: Duke . University Press. Audible Past The Milan: Edizioni Charta. Milan: Edizioni Charta. 31, 6:44–51. www.kollectiv.co.uk/Art%20Papers%20feature/ 6:44–51. 31, PAPERS ART ” In since 1969.” Genital Panic : The Artist is Present.” www.moma.org/interactives/ Artist is The Present.” ;: Abramovic “Marina MoMA.org.

November.

Jones. London: Routledge. Jones. Originally published abramovic_house.htm. in Amsterdam: (11 SDU September Publishers. 2010). .manchester.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/marina/ (16 September 2010). .manchester.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/marina/ (13 November 2009). .manchester.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/realtime/ EXPORT’s exhibitions/2010/marinaabramovic/ exhibitions/2010/marinaabramovic/ (11 September). Re-Enactment.” re-enactment/retro-necro.htm (26 May 2008). 12 Art’s History.” Preserving Routledge. Seven Easy Pieces. In Abramovic;.” with Marina Editore. artanddesign/2010/mar/19/art-marina-abramovic-moma (22 March). Wijers, Louwrien. [1990] n.d. “Interview Abramovic;.”with Marina [1990] n.d. Louwrien. Wijers, Whitworth.manchester.ac.uk. Whitworth.manchester.ac.uk. Real Documents.” Time, “Real 2009b. Art Gallery. Whitworth “Can Photographs Make it So?: Forthcoming. Repeated VALIE Outbreaks Mechthild. of Widrich, Schlenzka, Jenny. 2010. Conversation with author. New York City, 2 May. City, York New Conversation with 2010. author. Jenny. Schlenzka, “Protest Again.” Now and 2010. Rebecca. Schneider, Forthcoming. Rebecca. Schneider, Santone, Jessica. 2008. “Marina Abramovic;’s “Marina 2008. Jessica. Santone, . New York: Prestel Publishing. York: New . Art ; and the Future of Performance Abramovic 2010. Marina ed. Paula, Orrell, From Beyond the “RETRO/NECRO: Grave of the Politics of 2007. Pil and Gallia Kollectiv. Emailed press 2009. release for Arts Center. Plymouth Sehgal.” “Tino 2010. Mira. Schor, Artist and “The the Brand.” 2005. Jonathan. Schroeder, 2007. Abramovic;. and Sandra Marina Umathum, Erika Fischer-Lichte, Nancy, Spector, 2003. Jonathan. Sterne, “Interview: Klaus Biesenbach in Conversation and 2008. Klaus Chrissie Biesenbach, Iles. Kristine, Stiles, Classic 1974. Lea. Vergine, www.guardian.co.uk/ ‘I have ;: Abramovic to be Marina Like a Mountain’.” “Artist 2010. James. Westcott, 2009a. Art Gallery. Whitworth MoMA. 2010. 2010. MoMA. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00046 by guest on 28 September 2021

“The Artist Is Present” Artistic Re-­Enactments and the Impossibility of Presence Amelia Jones

“The Artist Is Present” Artistic Re-Enactments and the Impossibility of Presence Amelia Jones