Marina Abromavics' work always leaves me with a weird feeling. Her performances always puts out a cold, dark, and violent tone through potential and endurance that sets me on edge. I feel like to create work in that manner you have to value your work and your concepts over your life, which as inspiring as that is, makes me feel like the artist is almost unstable. I know Van Gogh cut off his ear which is way more extreme but the way she throws herself to the wolves reminds me of that. The gaze that reoccurs in her work and also in this video, is a test to her endurance and power through her stare. You can tell she never gets lazy, or wanders but is fully present in every passing moment of the video. Its a performance that I honestly could never recreate. I have a hard time looking someone in the eyes more than a few minutes at the most. Something as un-receptive as a camera lens would be even more difficult because it would bore me, but with a person it would be incredibly awkward. It is literally impossible not to look away. The amount of focus it would require is so beyond what we do in our every day lives. Looking to the side, daydreaming, checking the clock, checking your phone, how long are we ever just present and focused? Marina Abromavic is constantly communicating to you through her gaze every second. Its the weirdest test of emotional endurance ever but in a way it relates to the staring contests we all had as children, except obviously Marina Abromavic blinks.
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