Annalisa Burello – Art as Spirituality: The Paradigmatic Case of Marina Abramovic. 23 September 2023

Annalisa Burello gave her talk on the Serbian performance artist Marina Abramović on the opening day of her exhibition at the Royal Academy in London (23 September 2023 to 1 January 2024). She sketches a biography of Marina, born on 30 November 1946 to war heroes revered by the Yugoslav Communist regime. Marina’s mother, an obsessive disciplinarian, treated her daughter harshly. Marina also spent formative years with her maternal grandmother, a devout practitioner of the rites of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who was steeped in folklore and interpreted coffee grounds.

Referring to a definition delineated by Denita Benyshek, whose mentor was SMN member Stanley Krippner, Annalisa develops her thesis of Abramović as artist-shaman, while acknowledging Marina’s view that the artist is free and does not accept labels. Through performance art, introspective Marina found her voice and countered the oppression of her mother, the Communist regime, and painting as taught by the academy.

Pain is ever present in the life of an artist who taps into ancestral memories, blending time present and time past, sometimes sitting as the passive object drawing out the extreme reactions of her participating audience who become the subject of the performance.

While resisting the label of spiritual leader, Marina has mentored many students and, now in her seventy-seventh year, they play the live roles in her events, interacting with her video performances and sculptures.

Annalisa’s comprehensive talk deepens our understanding of the powerful voice of a performance artist who takes us to the threshold.

Report by Sue Lewis