Watch Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present For Free

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Best movie of this year hands down!

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I remember when there were people going to MOMA in droves to sit across from some artist I'd never heard of. I heard people say it was a very moving experience. It sounded nuts to me. So I was curious to see if I could get a sense of what it was all about from this movie.I suppose I did, a little bit. The movie is made by people who want to be a bit artsy about it all, with jump shots and some shaky camera-work, but it does give you the basics. Marina is a long-time performance artist who specializes in feats of endurance, like running repeatedly into a wall or sitting naked on a bicycle seat for hours. She is very sincere, very determined, and seems to be someone who lives her art. There are scenes of her with her ex-partner/lover in which she is driving and cooking dinner which give you a glimpse into the mundane aspects of life that even those living for their art experience.Most of the second half of the movie is devoted to her three months sitting staring at people who stare back. You see how physically grueling the experience is, you see how moved many people are, and you say how insane things got, with people camping out all night, desperate to get in early enough to spend some time having a famous artist stare at them.The movie doesn't really recreate the experience. It's rather glossy at times, with a soundtrack that I'm sure creates a different experience than what I assume was simply the buzz of the crowd and the noise from any video projections nearby. I'm amazed that some people here said they were moved by this movie. It's an interesting view of a performance artist, offering occasional mild insights from her friends and giving some understanding of her approach.I'm also surprised that some people expected more of this movie, like a complete investigation of her career, or questions into how performance art fits into the art world. The movie is called The Artist is Present, and it's focused on that show, and that piece, and it's by someone who clearly buys into performance artist (I've always thought this sort of thing was interesting but kooky). It's exactly the sort of documentary I would expect someone who is intrigued by Marina would be inclined to make.The movie absolutely did not make me wish I'd gone up to MOMA to stare at her, although it makes me feel, just a little, that maybe I should have gone up to see the recreations of her previous pieces and take a quick peek at her face-offs. But it's not something I'm losing sleep over.

I don't pretend to know the inner realm of performance art; each creative genre has its own secret system of valuation. What struck me most about Marina as an artist in general, though, is her ability to rise above everything and dedicate herself to the truth as she sees it. It is incredibly difficult to sit and look directly into someone's eyes, whether a stranger or your most intimate partner. Most of us go days without doing this; try it yourself and see (pun intended). There was no doubt a significant exchange of oxytocin (a feel-good hormone) between her and the hundreds of thousands of people who sat across from her and partook in the social experiment (in fact, it seemed to me to be more of a social experiment than performance art, but again, that's just labels). I don't think anyone would argue that there was a lot of mental energy being exchanged, and as we learn more about the brain through ongoing studies, I'm sure we'll realize that this artist is tapping into a futuristic version of ourselves communicating by energy and emotions only. It also seemed very "zen" to me, and I noticed that at least one of her visitors was a Buddhist. In essence, she was performing a form of sitting meditation, and the three-day retreat that she insisted on for her fellow performance artists was very close to the spiritual practises of eastern philosophy. I found the documentary very moving, startlingly refreshing, and a wonderful profile of a courageous, dedicated artist who is a true soul- seeker. The only critical comment I have is that I thought the other artists - the ones who valiantly took on her past tasks and who spent an equal number of hours being "tortured" into stillness - did not get much acclaim at the conclusion of the documentary. Bravo to all of them!In conclusion, a documentary well worth watching, a woman worthy of our admiration, and an art perhaps emergent in its influences over society.

I can't even find words to describe the emotion, the feeling of peace, serenity, harmony that we feel as watching this beautiful documentary. It simply shows us the essence, the genuineness and purity of this fabulous artist! GREAT WOMAN, no doubt! I wish I was one of those that had the opportunity to sit in front of her! This is art, and anyone can't say that it's not! Certainly you'll never find someone so much present, so much human, so much given to the feelings of others, such as Marina! And that's for sure!!! Thank you, thank you so so much! You're simply UNIQUE! I truly wish to know her better now!!! And her institute, oh the institute!!!! Maybe one day, one day, who knows? :)

Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present is a rather detailed documentary about the exhibition of the same name at MoMA in 2010. It won't change your opinion about it, though. Whether you agree that Marina is the "grandmother of performance art" or you feel that contemporary art is nothing but hot air, those points of view are left unchallenged.There is little background information about the artist, which should be standard for a movie determined to address a much wider audience than art aficionados. So we're left with a lot of people asserting Marina's importance for the history of arts and some archive footage to corroborate that.There's no doubt The Artist Is Present is as a milestone for the arts of the 21st century, but at this point a movie about it is just another documentary.By the way, my favorite moment is when in the background of an interview a visitor to the exhibition asked which one of the two sitting was Marina. How imperceptible must you be to visit a museum where walls of each room are covered with photos and videos of the artist and not recognize her? Or was it just another consumer who's been told not to miss the event? After all, someone in the movie mentioned "market for Marina's work" and she admitted liking life's simple pleasures, such as shopping designer clothes in Paris...