I find these fascinating and can waste 15 minutes by ending up on that site without realizing it. There was one woman who kept coming back every day in different outfits/costumes, plus I think Teching Hsieh showed up at some point...
- Gabby (guest) 6-05-2010 8:57 am

I like that Kim Cattrall showed up, and that Marina totally broke her down.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/themuseumofmodernart/4638676053/

Also, I went on day that this woman sat -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/themuseumofmodernart/4659841515/in/set-72157623741486824/

And she was there forever. She didn't look like she was crying when I kept peering in but I guess eventually Marina broke her down too.

- jennyhead (guest) 6-05-2010 3:32 pm

The gazillions of Marina Abramovic staring in that ugly dress photos all over the place were hilarious (as well as the speculation about when she peed) but I'm finding the photo collection of her opposites to be really beautiful.

(Paddy Johnson also linked to this flickr collection several times but for some reason I never clicked through.)
- L.M. 6-05-2010 4:08 pm

A formal question: grids or slide show?
- L.M. 6-05-2010 4:11 pm

Short cut to the good stuff:
http://marinaabramovicmademecry.tumblr.com/

- rob (guest) 6-06-2010 4:57 pm

Oh man. All that long-haired, big-eyed naked soulfulness is just too much for me. What is this, the 60s? It's like she's setting herself up as some kind of art saint and people are totally buying into it. I'm thinking if you sat with her and didn't cry then you'd be feeling like a cold-hearted cynic compared to all those empathetic people who are so in touch with their feelings. A big, big part of me says "feh."
- sally mckay 6-06-2010 5:56 pm

I don't see any soulfulness.

(not having one myself)
- L.M. 6-06-2010 6:10 pm

what I like about the project is the challenge, like a staring contest kind of, or maybe more like Stanley Milgram's project where he made his grad students go on the subway and ask someone for their seat without giving a reason. The challenge to establish and maintain direct eye contact without speaking is really interesting. But the crying crying crying stuff seems like a red-herring, and very much emphasizes the power dynamics of big museum celebrity art rather than questions about intimate interaction, courage and endurance.
- sally mckay 6-06-2010 6:20 pm

You know what makes me cry? The tone mapping on those portraits.
- Rob (guest) 6-06-2010 7:00 pm

They do look good. I agree that there is something great about comparing so many faces displayed within such a consistent aesthetic framework. But I find it creepy too. Maybe that's part of the point.
- sally mckay 6-06-2010 7:42 pm

That's it exactly and the collection has a very strong illusion of randomness in physical types. I'm not creeped out by it at all.
- L.M. 6-06-2010 8:03 pm

I didn't mean cry in a good way. That stuff makes make my skin crawl.
- rob (guest) 6-06-2010 8:13 pm

That's the exact tone mapping I demand for all photos of myself. (plus Margaret Keane eyes of course)
- L.M. 6-06-2010 8:39 pm

The more I look at these pictures I see an abnormal number of the celebrities....

Bjork - http://www.flickr.com/photos/themuseumofmodernart/4621916382/in/set-72157623741486824/

Isabella Rossellini - http://www.flickr.com/photos/themuseumofmodernart/4583841939/in/set-72157623741486824/

James Franco - http://www.flickr.com/photos/themuseumofmodernart/4621167909/in/set-72157623741486824/

And I think Sharon Stone and others are in there somewhere.

It makes me wonder if MoMA and/or the artist okay'd having a VIP line. The artist is present, but obviously for some people more than others. The splashy celebrity closing party seals the deal for me.

I also don't know how I feel about how the last sitter of the exhibition 'had' to be the exhibition curator.


- jennyhead (guest) 6-06-2010 10:15 pm

Okay, I got my answer to the celebrity question - looks like the VIPs were consistently let in after the exhibition official closing times

http://www.flickr.com/photos/themuseumofmodernart/4668691895/in/set-72157623741486824/

What a lovely taste this all leaves in my mouth. I wanted to like the show, but now I'm not really sure I can.
- jennyhead (guest) 6-06-2010 10:22 pm

Here's the telepathic version of Bjork's visit.
- L.M. 6-06-2010 10:27 pm

That link is amazing!

Okay, I can accept the fact that the seeming democracy of this performance was all an illusion. But I don't have to like it.
- jennyhead (guest) 6-06-2010 11:13 pm

A tumblr of one person's hotties.
- L.M. 6-06-2010 11:22 pm

Yikes! It's like having your turn to sit on Santa's knee.
- M.Jean 6-07-2010 2:46 pm

Santa is way better at making them cry, though.
- rob (guest) 6-07-2010 3:29 pm

Well let me spoil the party. I love her. I totally understand the comments concerning the celebs and the unavoidable spectacle with staging such a performance at that museum. MoMA wanted a crowd and they milked this baby. But put the blame where it deserved to be placed…….on MoMA. I saw the show and the restrospective upstairs. Apart from the ‘re-staging’ of key pieces (which I’m not a big fan of in regards to performance) there was enough incredible archived film and other material to make this show stand alone. Loved it. As for the pissy comments about the ‘afterparty’…….who fucking cares? If I sat in that atrium for 3 months I would want to cartwheel straight to the liquor cabinet! (After one big ropey pee of course) Good on her.

- thom (guest) 6-07-2010 6:38 pm

Thanks, for that perspective Thom. Did you sit?
- sally mckay 6-07-2010 7:16 pm

Alas no. A big part of me wanted to. But if I won't stand in line for art at Nuit Blanche, I certainly didn't want to stand in this line. It was all about the upstairs stuff. Her show and the William Kentridge retrospective blew my fucking socks off.
- thom (guest) 6-07-2010 7:37 pm

I feel the love too Thom. All the hilarious parodies floating around don't diminish her at all, and make me love her more.
- L.M. 6-07-2010 7:45 pm

For my 2 cents, it's the audience that bugs me, not the performer. I have total respect for someone who can pull off that level of endurance, with or without a catheter. I'd like to know what she thought of the whole thing. She's gotta be be going:
"I can sit here all day without moving. You cry when someone looks into your eyes for 5 minutes. You are weak. Go and watch Oprah."


- Rob (guest) 6-08-2010 1:09 am

Rob you're cracking me up. I agree.

I went through a bunch of them looking for someone that I'd actually like to talk to about what it was like. I almost gave up until I found this one. 75 minutes is a long time --- pretty good endurance!
- sally mckay 6-08-2010 4:25 am

Hilarious. What is she thinking right now at that moment? Priceless.
- thom (guest) 6-08-2010 1:48 pm

how to change the urge to giggle at them into making them cry.
- bill 6-08-2010 2:02 pm

I have this weird thing I can do with my eyes that makes them vibrate. The cool thing about it is that there's no way I can see what I look like when I do it, but I know that it freaks the hell out of people. (This was basically like a super power when I was about 11). Now I'm regretting not going.
- Rob (guest) 6-08-2010 2:43 pm

Sally, I can't find her but there's one chick who sat there for 293 minutes or something. Or maybe it was 220 something minutes. Either way, kind of insane. In the end Marina cut her off - one of the few instances. Wish I could find the picture and the blog entry I read about it.
- jennyhead (guest) 6-08-2010 6:15 pm

Hey Rob - I have the same shakey-eyes ability! Or I used to. Age and too much academic reading have made it much more difficult to do. It was a definite ace-up-the-sleeve in staring contests.
- sally mckay 6-08-2010 7:09 pm

My brother went to school with a guy who could control his eyes independently. One eye on Marina, the other on the floor; and then switch.
- M.Jean 6-08-2010 10:53 pm

There's money in that sort of thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlPAVm8Gl6M

- rob (guest) 6-09-2010 5:04 pm

- sally mckay 6-09-2010 8:27 pm