Theatre is fake... The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real.
Interpretation
The quote distinguishes between the artificiality of theatre and the authenticity found in performance art.
Marina Abramovic's quote highlights the contrast between traditional theatre, where props and emotions are often simulated, and performance art, which she argues delivers real experiences and emotions. In her view, true performance transcends mere imitation, creating a visceral connection between the artist and the audience, wherein everything—including the physicality of the performance and the emotions expressed—holds genuine significance.
In practice
During a panel discussion about the role of authenticity in art, this quote could provoke thoughtful dialogue.
All the aggressive actions I do to myself I would never dream of doing in my own life - I am not this kind of person. I cry if I cut myself peeling potatoes. I am taking the plane, there is turbulence, I am shaking. In performance, I become, somehow, like not a mortal.
I hate studio. For me, studio is a trap to overproduce and repeat yourself. It is a habit that leads to art pollution.
The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind.
First of all, to do performance art, you really have to give 100 percent. I only know that I have to give 100 percent and then what happens, happens.
I want people to come to me open and vulnerable. When they come to the gallery, they have to leave their watches, their computers, their Blackberrys, iPads, iPhones, because we are so incredibly used to technology, and I wanted to remove that.
When you have heartbreak, what's important is that you don't go halfway. Go all the way down. Don't take pills that keep you in limbo. Cry out all the feelings. Then your own energy for life will put you up again. You become stronger.
Certainly, my many years working in the comics industry, creating products that I do not own, has made me rather fierce on the subject of giving up rights.
Acting... was the biggest charge I ever had. What other artist has it so good? Approval so quick?
I write what feels real. I write things that are informed both by my own experience and by actual history.
The world concerns me only in so far as I have a certain debt and duty to it, because I have lived in it for thirty years and owe to it to leave behind some souvenir in the shape of drawings and paintings – not done to please any particular movement, but within which a genuine human sentiment is expressed.
The actual world, not some fantastic structure that has nothing to do with reality, must provide the material for modern poetry.
And that's what people want to see when they go to the theater. I believe at the end of the day, they want to see themselves - parts of their lives they can recognize. And I feel if I can achieve that, it's pretty spectacular.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.