84. See the traveling exhibit at the MOMA

There's something really special about catching traveling exhibits.  You feel like you are witnessing something special as opposed to the run of the mill shows.  Never mind that we are talking about the MOMA here, and their permanent collection is in itself world class.  It must be something about the temporal nature of traveling exhibits, the feeling that if you miss it, you are missing out on a unique moment that will never happen again.  I've actually seen my fair share of special exhibits since living in NYC, including Tim Burton, The MET fashion/muse, Henri Cartier Bresson, etc. 

But so far, the most compelling exhibit had to be Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present.  It wasn't just that her body of work was pretty incredible, both from a retrospective view and the fact that she embodies the limits of performance art, she was also doing a performance right there in the main MOMA space.

I've often wondered what the best use for the large central atrium at the MOMA would be.  Its an incredibly huge space, but also seems to be at a scale that would overwhelm most art installations.  

I understand it now.  Its a space for performance, for people to come together, for events to take place that can be viewed from all the other mezzanines.

I don't know what to think of the actual performance.  Marina Abramovic was indeed present.  She just sat there completely still every day for the length of the exhibit, and people would wait for their turn to sit on the chair opposite her.  The line to participate in the performance was ridiculous, supposedly visitors would wait several hours for the chance to be a part of this unique experience.  But I'm pregnant, so it just didn't seem worth it to perform.   I was still fascinated though.  You feel compelled to stare at the people that are just sitting there, perfectly still.

There's a part of me that's very skeptical of performance art.  My cousin is a performance artist and has helped me gain a new appreciation for the art form and the valid ways in which it challenges the the way we interact with art, the world and our own expectations of the world.  I'm trying, but that doesn't mean that there weren't parts of the retrospective that left me scratching my head as to why it was in a museum.  The naked people were fascinating, and definitely the most popular draw.  Not that I enjoy looking at nude people as a hobby, but I was really fascinated by the naked doorway.

Ultimately this exhibit broadened my perception of what belongs in the gallery, and what the extents of performance can be.  And isn't that the purpose of most contemporary art movements?  To challenge what art is, what belongs to the elite vs whats accessible to all?  What is defined as an art form, and what the nature of authorship and the artist?