BELGRADE: The boundary-pushing performance artist Marina Abramovic returned to Belgrade Saturday to inaugurate the final exhibition of a major touring retrospective, marking her first professional homecoming in nearly 50 years.
Dressed in black, the 72-year-old invited reporters to Belgrade’s Contemporary Art Museum at dawn for the “symbolic cleansing of her career.”
The retrospective, titled “The Cleaner,” exhibits more than 100 works from Abramovic’s past 50 years of provocative performances, many of which saw the artist put her own body on the line.
“You know for me it’s very emotional to be here, and it’s not easy, there’s lots of nostalgia, lots of memories that are forgotten,” she said of her return to the Serbian capital, a place she said shaped her outlook as an artist.
“I learned three things here: from my grandmother I learned spirituality … from my father I learned bravery, and from my mother willpower and discipline,” she said.
The exhibition, which has been touring Europe since 2017, features photo montages and video reels replaying many of Abramovic’s most daring works, including one where she laid out a table of 72 objects, among which figured scissors and a loaded gun, and invited spectators to use them on her “as desired.”
Another piece from 1997, titled Balkan Baroque, saw her sit and clean 1,000 beef bones while singing folk songs from her youth, earning her a Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale.
Young Serbian artists also re-enacted some performances live on Saturday, including one in which a naked man and woman stand inside a doorway, forcing museum-goers to squeeze past their bodies.
Doling out advice for youth, the artist said: “It is very important to follow your heart, your ideas, without compromising.”
“To live for your art, which requires a lot of sacrifice,” she added.
At the start of the exhibition, Abramovic briefly sat down to re-enact a 2010 performance in New York named “The Artist is Present.”
That three-month-long piece saw her sit silently, without moving, for seven hours a day, six days a week, as visitors took turns sitting across her.
Asked if she would use her fame to bring more support to Serbian artists, Abramovic said:
“I am not a politician, but an artist, and I believe that this exhibit will show politicians that investing in culture will bring it to higher levels.”
The exhibit will be open in Belgrade until January 20, 2020.
Performance artist Marina Abramovic returns to native Belgrade for retrospective
Performance artist Marina Abramovic returns to native Belgrade for retrospective
- ‘You know for me it’s very emotional to be here, and it’s not easy, there’s lots of nostalgia, lots of memories that are forgotten’
- Doling out advice for youth, the artist said: ‘It is very important to follow your heart, your ideas, without compromising’
Sony’s Alpha Femme initiative debuts in UAE ahead of Saudi launch
JEDDAH: Sony has brought its Alpha Femme initiative to the UAE for the first time, with several workshops taking place this week ahead of the next edition in Saudi Arabia.
Emirati photographer and Sony’s digital imaging ambassador Amani AlShaali conducted a workshop on fine art photography at Garage Studio in Dubai on Sunday.
The workshops in the UAE are designed to support women across photography, videography, cinematography, and content creation.
Suchismita Bhattarcharjee, category manager, interchangeable lens cameras, Sony Middle East and Africa, spoke to Arab News about the initiative and its goals for the region’s female content creators.
“Bringing a program like Alpha Femme to the UAE was part of our effort at nurturing local creator communities, with a specific focus on supporting women who are shaping visual storytelling in meaningful and impactful ways,” said Bhattarcharjee.
“Access to learning platforms and communities, such as Alpha Femme, play a key role in helping creators build both technical capability and creative direction.”
Sony’s goal for participants, she said, was to “walk away with stronger professional connections, enhanced creative confidence, and practical knowledge that they can apply directly to their work.
“What is equally important is the sense of community and peer exchange that this will offer, creating a network where women can support one another, share experiences, and continue growing together within the region’s evolving creator landscape,” she added.
Alpha Femme in the UAE will organize monthly workshops to empower women across the creative industry.
The workshop topics will revolve around “practical creative skills, real-world workflows, and the evolving needs of the creative economy, ensuring the program remains relevant and responsive to the community it supports.”
These sessions are designed to bring beginner and experienced creators together for hands-on learning, industry knowledge sharing, and direct engagement with Sony ambassadors and speakers.
The launch of the initiative in UAE follows editions in Kuwait, South Africa, Egypt, and Kazakhstan.
“Sony is continuing to expand the initiative across the region, with the next edition set to take place in Saudi Arabia, reinforcing Alpha Femme’s role as a growing regional platform for women in visual storytelling,” said Bhattarcharjee.
