This week in Toronto marks the world debut of Marina Abramović Institute – Prototype, conceived as a satellite to the artist’s yet-to-be-built Marina Abramović Institute for long-form performance in Hudson, New York.
As Abramović tells Toronto photographer Christopher Wahl in a new film viewable by clicking on the Video icon above, “When I stood up from the chair in MoMA after the performance of The Artist is Present, I was not the same anymore. During that time, I got this idea that I have to leave a legacy.”
In the new video, which was commissioned by Canadian Art, Abramović discusses how that idea of legacy grew into the institute, what she hopes audiences will get out of the prototype, and why it is significant to hold this premiere in Canada.
“I think the Canadian audience, for me, is much more similar to my kind of background,” Abramović tells Wahl in the video. “The people—I think because you are so much in connection with nature and this enormous, vast land you have—I think there is much more of an understanding on a spiritual level than in America, let’s say.”
Interior and exterior views of Marina Abramović Institute – Prototype in Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods Park are also included in the film. Consisting of seven red, interconnected pavilions, the prototype has rooms designed for resting, meditating on various objects, and staring into a stranger’s eyes à la The Artist is Present, among other activities.
“You really have to be willing to participate to some extent,” Wahl says of the prototype, where participants have to don lab coats and commit to spending two hours going through Abramović’s exercises.
Wahl also notes “how willing to participate Marina is” compared to other recognizable figures. (He often photographs famed personalities; his picture of the Queen is currently on view in “Light My Fire” at the Art Gallery of Ontario.)
The world premiere of Marina Abramović Institute – Prototype continues in Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods Park as part of Luminato to June 23. Tickets are available through Luminato’s website.
For more information about Marina Abramović’s thoughts on her new institute and its Toronto debut, read David Balzer’s recent interview with the artist.
